Trust Issues
by HlysComment
Summary: It doesn't take the 5-0 team long to figure out that the Atlantis team aren't who they say they are. Will the two teams be able to build some trust in each other in time to save McKay's sister?
1. Chapter 1

**Trust Issues**

**A/N: Hi, welcome to my first crossover story. This was inspired by the exceptional stories of Kristen999 for both Hawaii 5-0 and SGA. Her stories and the fact that the shows are both about elite teams composed of three men and one woman inspired me to try a mashup. Hope you like it. Please r/r. Thanks for reading this first chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't lay claim to any characters from either SGA or H50. No copywrite infringement is intended.**

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><p>Danny glanced around at the deserted air strip.<p>

"So, uh, what's going on?" He asked Steve, who stood squinting stoically at the tarmac.

"You know as much as I do, Danno." Steve answered.

"Don't call me Danno." Danny grumbled.

He paced back and forth a few times, occasionally glancing in the general direction he supposed the plane would eventually emerge.

"We're here to babysit some out of townies from the mainland?" Danny asked after a few frustrated circuits. "Why'd they have to pick this weekend to drop in on my island?"

"Your Island?" Steve smirked. "Careful there, Jersey. You're starting to sound like you're going native."

"I didn't.." Danny sputtered. "I didn't mean MY island I meant this particular island. I mean, why not one of the many other Hawaiian islands so that… just shut up, okay."

Steve chuckled and watched as his partner, probably sweating more than he needed to in the button up and tie he stubbornly insisted on wearing, continued to pace.

"What are they doing here? Why all the hush-hush? Why here?" Danny yelled to the gorgeous scenery that, discounting Steve, was his only audience.

"Why did the Governor call on her 5-0 task force to do this on our day off?" Steve queried, with a knowingly arched eyebrow.

"Yes!" Danny exclaimed. "Yes, that's the real question. What is so important about these particular tourists that I have to give up a weekend with Gracie? You know the answer to that?"

Steve suppressed a smile and shook his head with a straight face.

"Nothing!" Danny exclaimed. "The correct answer, the ONLY answer to that question is nothing because nothing is more important than me getting to spend time with my daughter."

Steve felt bad. He really did but he couldn't help but smile a bit at Danny's frustration. Not because it was funny that Danny'd miss spending time with Gracie. That wasn't funny. But these displays of how much it bothered him to miss spending time with her, of how much Danny loved his little girl were always endearing.

"I'm sorry, Danny. I really am." Steve sighed. "You know what? Just go home. Like you said, it's babysitting some tourists. What's the worst that could happen?"

Danny groaned. "Why'd you have to say that?"

Steve frowned, "What?"

"I could have left if you hadn't said that!" Danny fumed.

For not the first time in their partnership Steve was completely at a loss as to what his partner was saying. "I don't get it."

"Why am I not surprised? Where were you while the rest of us were learning the things normal human beings just know? No, no. Don't tell me. You were off in super SEAL school learning how to kill people with your eyelashes. Look," Danny said, placing a hand on his partner's shoulder to maintain eye contact. "You never EVER say 'What's the worst that could happen', okay? Ne-ver. It's tempting fate."

"Fate?" Steve repeated.

"Yes, my imbecilic cretin, fate. As in, the unseen and all powerful force behind the universe."

"Really?" Steve asked skeptically. "You believe in fate?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."Danny sighed, now completely exasperated. "What I definitely do not believe in is tempting fate."

"Danny, there's no such thing as fate." Steve persisted. "I'm in control of my decisions. You're in control of yours. What are the odds there's some unseen force out there dictating our lives?"

"I don't know, probably pretty slim. I've got a pretty slim chance of getting hit by lightning but that doesn't mean I go around waving metal POLES in the air in the middle of a THUNDERSTORM!"

"Da-" Steve began but Danny interrupted.

"Just drop it." He huffed. "I'm not going anywhere." And as though to add to the finality of the statement Danny stopped pacing and folded his arms across his chest.

Steve stared at his partner with a slightly confused look for a moment more and then shrugged, folded his tattooed arms over his own chest and stood waiting in a companionable silence with his partner.

When was that plane gonna get here anyway?

50SGA50SGA50SGA50SGA

"I don't understand why we have to put up this pretense that we're arriving by conventional transportation." Dr. Meredith Rodney Mckay fumed. "We don't have time for this. We've got to find Jeanie."

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard sighed and turned his attention away from the control panel of the small space ship known as 'puddle jumper four' and gave his teammate a sympathetic and somewhat pained look. The slightly pudgy scientist was hunched over his tablet computer display of what looked like a typographical map of the Hawaiian islands, his intense blue eyes scanning some kind of data stream on the right side of the control panel but darting back to the map occasionally as well.

Sheppard sighed and wiggled his shoulders to ease some of the tension there. He rubbed a hand around his neck and realized in his hurry to get started he'd forgotten to shave. Oh well. His hair never seemed to lay flat anyway and the stubble would, he hoped, give him a rugged rather than disheveled appearance.

"I know you're worried about your sister, Mckay but we can't start landing this thing in public." He said.

"Why not?" Mckay huffed. "How many years have we been travelling to other planets, other galaxies? When are the powers that be going to decide to share that little tid bit with the rest of the planet?"

"Not my call." Sheppard said. "Not yours either. Look, we're lucky they let us use a jumper in the first place. Count your blessings."

"Count my blessings? Really?" Mckay erupted. "Which blessings would those be? That my sister got kidnapped? That I've got to go to Hawaii to track her down?"

"I am confused." Teyla Emmagen said, her delicate brows furrowed. The delicate features and graceful carriage were a bit deceitful, mused Sheppard as Teyla's attractive light brown frame was capable of inflicting massive amounts of damage when she felt the need. "I have been led to believe that Hawaii is a place of great beauty."

"Yeah," A deep voice grunted and the dark imposing form of Ronan Dex emerged from the back of the jumper, his thick dreadlocks spilling forward. "Don't you Earth folks call it a paradise?"

"A tropical paradise." McKay corrected. "Which is not such a paradise to people with citrus allergies."

Ronan looked to Teyla. "This is the lemon thing again?"

Mckay gave Ronan a withering glance. "Yes, it's the 'lemon thing' again. The 'lemon thing' is always going to be a thing because I'm always going to be allergic to citrus which means they will always be a deadly threat."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ronon said dismissively and returned to the back of the jumper.

McKay realized that both Teyla and Sheppard were doing a pretty poor job of suppressing smiles.

"It's not funny." He huffed. "They put it in everything in these places. Drinks, food, lotion, everything is saturated with citrus. Wait. Huh. I wonder…" Mckay pulled out his tablet and started working furiously on something.

"Don't worry, Mckay. We'll protect you from the lethal lemons." Sheppard smirked, glad for even the slightest amount of levity. Things had been incredibly tense since they'd received word of Jeanie's kidnapping or, rather, since Sheppard had received word. He remembered that conversation with Woolsey.

"Do we know who took her?"

"Yes," The balding bespeckled man had sighed. "It was the Trust."

"The Trust? Those CIA wannabees? I thought we wiped them out? They're still out there trying to save Earth by any means necessary?"

"It would appear so." Woolsey said, delicately adjusting his eyeglasses. Sheppard mused that everything about the man screamed delicate but he had seen this delicate man stand up to things that would make some of his special forces buddies think twice.

"Do they have any theories on what they want with Jeanie?" Sheppard asked.

"No, because we know exactly what they want with her. They want Dr. Mckay."

Sheppard swallowed as though it would allow him to somehow more easily digest that fact.

"I suppose it shouldn't be surprising." Woolsey continued. "Dr. Mckay is a brilliant man on his own but when you consider his extensive research into the advanced technologies of the Ancients, his knowledge of both Goa'uld and Wraith technologies and then factor in the fact that he was personally tutored by an Asgard scientist…"

"And he's an ubergenius that a clandestine group of spies hell bent on using alien technology to wipe out extraterrestrial threats to Earth would pluck out their own eyes to acquire." Sheppard interrupted.

Woolsey frowned. "That isn't exactly how it was put but yes, that's the basic drift of it. Stargate Command, Colonel Carter in particular, is questioning why Mrs. Miller wasn't under some kind of protective detail, especially considering this isn't the first time someone has kidnapped the poor woman."

"Well, the first time she was kidnapped didn't have anything to do with Mckay. That time it was Jeanie's big brain the kidnappers were after. Remember, she's a genius too."

"Yes, well this time Dr. Mckay is definitely the target. Stargate Command received a communiqué offering proof of life for Jeanie" Wolsly cleared his throat in an attempt to cover up the fact he'd called Jeanie by her first name. The man was meticulous and this was an official briefing. He had shared a connection to Jeanie once and Sheppard knew he was very fond of her but in this official capacity she was Mrs. Miller, not Jeanie. "achem, for Mrs. Miller and stated they were willing to negotiate her release in trade for Dr. Mckay, nothing else. They further stated that any attempts at some alternate negotiation would result in punitive measures" despite his best efforts Woolsey's voice choked slightly "being taken out on Mrs. Miller."

"So, if we try and bargain with them, they'll hurt Jeanie." Sheppard simplified.

"Yes." Woolsey sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Did they give us a deadline?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes, they did and fortunately for us, they don't appear to be aware that we have re-established gate travel to Earth because the deadline seems to assume Dr. Mckay would have to take a Pegasus class ship home. They gave us approximately three months."

Sheppard grinned. "That's the first good news you've had for me Woolsey. We can be back on Earth tonight. I'll brief my team." He stood and started to head to the door.

"Commander!" Woolsey called out, halting the airman's retreat. "One more thing."

"What?" Sheppard asked turning back to face Woolsey.

"You won't like it. I don't like it either but it's an order and I expect you to obey it as I will."

Creepy crawlies were running up and down Sheppard's arms.

"What's this order I won't like?"

"We have been ordered not to tell Dr. Mckay the true details of his sister's abduction." Woolsey said flatly and braced himself for a violent response. Instead Sheppard simply frowned and was still for a moment as though considering.

"I get the reasoning behind it. Rodney'd do anything for Jeanie. Come to that, she'd do anything for him. We tell him the Trust wants a trade, he might just ditch us and make that trade. That what NID's thinking?"

"That was my understanding, yes, and the NID considers Dr. Mckay too valuable an asset to sacrifice. Initially, the consensus was that Dr. Mckay would not be allowed to participate at all but I and Colonel Carter argued that his intelligence and experience with both Mrs. Miller and the Trust could be invaluable. NID approved his inclusion only if he were kept ignorant of the Trust's true demands."

Sheppard didn't like the idea of keeping such an incredibly huge secret from his teammate and friend. His hesitance must have shown.

"I remind you Colonel, this is a direct order." Woolsey said sternly, and Woolsey could do stern. "If the NID or Stargate Command get any indication Dr. Mckay is aware of the Trust's demands, they will send him back to Atlantis immediately. I know it's distasteful but which do you think Dr. Mckay would prefer; for you to lie to him and allow him to help find his sister or for you to tell him the truth and leave him behind?"

Sheppard smirked sarcastically, "Well, when you put it that way it almost sounds like a good thing to lie to a friend and colleague. I used to wonder how politicians sleep at night but now I know there's absolutely nothing that can't be rationalized."

Thinking back on it, Sheppard knew he hadn't been fair to Woolsey. The man had fought for Mckay. Sheppard glanced back at the scientist.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm looking for signs of alien power signatures." Mckay mumbled distractedly.

"What? In Hawaii? Why?"

Mckay rolled his eyes. "What are we doing right now?"

Sheppard blinked. "Um, traveling?"

Mckay sighed.

"Flying then. I don't' know."

Mckay rolled his eyes. "We're using alien technology. The Trust has quite a few goodies of their own and it stands to reason if we use alien tech for shortcuts, they will... Got something! It's coming from, um, the middlish sized island near the top." Mckay said frowning.

"Uh, which one is the middlish sized one near the top, Mckay?" Sheppard prodded.

"I don't know! There are tons of them." Mckay said exasperated thrusting the topographical map at Sheppard. "Just look at it."

"Huh, that's Oahu. It's where we're supposed to meet up with that Honolulu task force. Good work, Mckay."

"That's why they pay me the big bucks. No wait. They DON'T pay me big bucks. They ship me off to another galaxy to fight alien monsters."

"And to make friends." Sheppard smiled and looked pointedly at Teyla.

Mckay glanced guiltily back at her. "Yeah, and to make friends with crazy beautiful women who can kick my ass seven ways to Sunday and whom I hope I have not in any way offended."

Teyla rewarded him with a laugh. "I was not offended, Rodney."

Mckay smiled but the smile faltered when he heard a gruff voice from the back call out.

"I was."


	2. Chapter 2

"Ah, crap." Sheppard breathed.

"What?" Mckay squaked. "What is it?"

"That team, they're waiting at the air field."

"What? Why?" Mckay asked peering at the two small but distinctly human figures standing at the end of the small runway.

"When the SGC reached out to the governor of Hawaii, they disclosed we'd be arriving here and to keep our arrival off the books. Damnit, they must have given that information to the local team she provided as our liaisons." Sheppard sighed.

"I still don't understand why we need liaisons." Mckay grumbled.

"Because when we reached out to the air force they suggested a Navy guy who as it turns out is working locally on this task force directly under the governor. The governor also highly recommended we work with this team. Hawaii is a complicated place that often isn't overly friendly or open with outsiders. So…"

"So, we get babysitters." McKay interrupted.

"I'm telling you, Mckay. This team comes highly, highly recommended. Give them a chance and they could help us find Jeanie." Sheppard said.

"Except that they won't be helpful because we won't be able to tell them anything." Mckay seethed. "If we could be open and honest with them, then yes, I'm sure they'd be really useful but we can't tell them what's really going on so they'll be less than useless. They'll hold us back."

Sheppard admitted he hadn't considered that.

"Look, the basic facts are the same. We can tell them Jeanie is a scientist working on high level stuff. We can tell them almost everything about the Trust except their endgame…"

"…and the kind of technology they might have available to them." Mckay muttered.

"Let me finish." Sheppard mollified.

"Fine. I'm just letting you know up front. If push comes to shove and the only way I save Jeanie is by telling them everything, I'm telling them."

"Agreed."

"R-really?" Mckay stammered.

"Yep."

"Oh. Um, well okay then." Mckay finished lamely. He'd been ready for a fight and was thrown off by the Colonel's immediate capitulation.

"That doesn't help us with our present situation, by the way." Sheppard said and looked pointedly at the two men standing at the end of the runway.

"I guess we land the jumper by the tree line, keep it cloaked and walk?"

Sheppard cut his eyes skeptically at the scientist.

"What? What else are we supposed to do?" Mckay sputtered.

"We could just de-cloak and land." Ronan said.

"Okay, okay. Reading people with no clearance in is a last resort people. Look there's a small hangar over there. I land the jumper cloaked and we walk out of it. We'll say the plane landed earlier and we just now noticed they were out there waiting. Alright?"

Ronan grunted. "Be easier to just tell 'em."

SGA50SGA50SGA50SGA50

"Hey, Danny." Steve nudged his partner and jerked his head in the direction of the hangar as the four man, er three man one woman team emerged.

"I thought you checked the hangar when we got here." Danny said.

"I did." Steve answered, his voice tight as they closed the gap between the two groups.

"Hey, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard." A disheveled dark haired man said, offering his hand.

"Lt. Commander Steven McGarret." Steve said, shaking his hand. "This is my partner, Detective Danny Williams."

"Nice to meet you. This is my team: Dr. Rodney Mckay, Ronan Dex and Teyla Emmagen."

"Yes, yes, yes." Mckay said. "Now we all know each other. Can we go?"

Sheppard winced. "Sorry about him. The missing person we're here to find is…"

"Is my sister." Mckay finished. "So forgive me if I don't feel very chatty." Without another word, he started marching toward the vehicles.

"Like I said, I'm sorry."

Steve held up his hands. "Nah, brah I get it. My sister was kidnapped a few months ago. I was ready to move heaven and earth, forget pleasantries."

Steve glanced at Danny and saw him nodding.

"I thought they were just leaving a vehicle for us." Sheppard said as the group followed Mckay to the vehicles.

"Those were our orders but it's nothing but dirt roads up here. They're pretty winding and there aren't many signs. It's pretty easy to get lost. We figured we'd stick around and let you guys follow us back."

Steve didn't say that he'd found it a little strange to be asked to leave a vehicle at a tarmac in the middle of nowhere. And he hadn't specifically been told not to stick around.

"So, what brought your investigation to Hawaii?" Danny asked.

"Well, we know who kidnapped Jeanie. It's an international covert organization composed of former intelligence and military officers called the Trust. A cell was uncovered recently and we managed to hack into their servers and found a message we thought might be related to Jeanie indicating she was on an island in the Pacific. Another mentioned weather specific to Hawaii. En route we were able to narrow it down to Oahu."

"How?" Danny asked in his forthright manner.

Sheppard hesitated. "I really don't like saying this but it's classified. I'm sorry but I'm probably going to be saying that a lot over the course of this investigation. I've been on the receiving end of it. I am still trying to get you clearance but…" He shrugged apologetically.

Steve held up a hand and then opened the driver's side door of the SUV they'd brought for the team.

"I worked with Navy intelligence. I've got experience not working with all the facts." He said.

"Well, I don't." Danny grumbled. "No offense, this classified stuff has always pissed me off."

"I still don't think we need a liaison." Mckay grumbled. "No offense."

"Hawaii can be a close knit community. I think the idea was we could open some doors." Steve said.

"I don't get it." Steve had found Ronan Dex to have an imposing manner and the man's deep and gruff voice only added to the effect. "I mean, this is all still the same planet right?"

"Yeah, well it's pretty populated and isolated and there's a lot of history involved in things like this." Sheppard said hurriedly. "Just trust me on this one, okay."

Mckay, now sitting in the passenger seat, leaned over and said, "Can we go? Today?"

"Okay, Mckay." Sheppard said with a glance that spoke volumes. "We're leaving."

He turned back to Danny and Steve. "We'll follow you."

"Sure thing." Steve said with a quick smile.

"What was that?" Danny asked as he buckled his seatbelt, a precaution he now never neglected.

"What?" Steve asked.

"That smile. It's your 'Something's hinky I don't really trust you' smile."

"I have a "Something's hinky I don't really trust you' smile?"

"Yes. Yes, you do and you just smiled it at our scruffy looking friend. So, what's up?"

"I checked that hangar it was empty. Where'd the come from? These definitely aren't tourists. I just don't like it."

"Well, they are supposed to be military."

"I know military. This is something different. Similar, but different."

"I know, what was with that guy and the whole 'we're all one planet big happy family' stuff? I mean, these guys are supposed to be military, right? I've never met a military person who talked like that."

"Well, we do come in all types." Steve said with a philosopher's patience.

"No kidding, all types. Did you see that guy?" Danny sputtered. "I mean, wo-woa. That guy was huge. I don't even know how he finds clothes. He's a frickin giant and the HAIR. What's with the giant dreads? That's no military haircut I've ever seen."

"Yeah, and he's not just big. That man knows how to carry himself. And the woman, Teyla?"

"Yeah? What about her? She seemed pretty."

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty normal, I mean, to me, especially considering."

"She's trained, well trained."

Now Danny raised both of his eyebrows. "How well trained?"

Steve smiled in that way that made Danny want to double check his seatbelt. "I'd think carefully before taking her on."

"Well, what's so strange about that? They're supposed to be military."

"United States military. The US still doesn't allow women into their elite or special forces units."

"Ahh,"Danny hissed. "So, what's a highly trained woman doing with a team that's supposed to be an elite US military team?"

"Exactly, and don't forget the scientist."

"The caustic guy?"

"He's Canadian."

"What?"

Steve nodded. "Definitely Canadian, though his accent's been heavily influenced. He's spent a lot of time with Americans."

"Well, he's just along for the ride, right? Just looking for his sister. He's not actually part of the team."

"No," Steve disagreed, shaking his head. "No, that team was solid. Did you see the way they reacted to some of our questions? They'd share a look between them and then one person, always just one person, would answer. You don't get that kind of non-verbal communication overnight. Those four are a cohesive unit. They've been together for a while and I'd be willing to bet through some hairy situations."

Danny cursed. "So, the tourists we're babysitting are actually an elite multi-national task force on a mission in which they're personally invested?"

"That's what it looks like." Steve confirmed.

"You just had to say it. You just had to tempt fate." Danny sighed.

Steve's eyebrows shot up. "You're gonna make this about fate, really? And my fault on top of it. Unbelieveable."

"I'm not making it your fault, Steve." Danny insisted. "It IS your fault. If you were human like everyone else, you'd know you don't tempt fate but no you're superSEAL. The normal rules of the universe don't apply to you. You defy gravity and breath under water!"

"I don't breath under water, well.." Steve amended. "..not without my scuba gear."

"I'm not talking to you anymore."


	3. Chapter 3

Chin quickly saved and closed the data he'd been reviewing when he heard the entrance to the 5-0 headquarters open. He forced a smile to replace the pensive frown and turned to greet the newcomers.

"Aloha." He called cheerfully.

"People actually say that?" A terse voice asked and Chin focused on the speaker.

"Yes, we do." He smiled and offered his hand. "Chin Ho Kelly."

"Rodney Mckay, that's Sheppad, Teyla and Ronon. Everyone's happy to meet you." The man introduced his team rapidly with a distracted air. "We have a new lead to run down. Where's your briefing room?"

"Uh," Chin stumbled, momentarily thrown off by the man's sense of urgency.

"This is as close as we come to a briefing room." He heard his younger cousin say as she approached the group. "Hi, I'm Kono, Kono Kalakaua."

"Another person?" Mckay practically exploded. "Are we going to have to meet everyone on the whole damn island before we can start looking for Jeanie?"

"Mckay, calm down." The man who'd been introduced as Sheppard said firmly. "When was the last time you ate something?"

"Seriously?"

Chin also thought it was a strange question to ask. The man didn't exactly look on the verge of starvation.

"You're irritable." Sheppard paused as the large dark man Mckay had introduced as Ronon cleared his throat and gave him a significant look. "Okay, more irritable that usual and you're looking a little pale and sweaty. I don't want any problems with your hypoglycemia slowing you down and I'm hoping that's why you're being so **_rude_** to our hosts. Eat something or I'll have Ronon take you to our hotel room and **_make_** you sleep."

Mckay looked from Sheppard to Ronon and the large man stepped forward suggestively.

"Fine." Mckay spat and his hand fumbled with the thigh of his pants leg as though looking for a non-existent pocket. "Uh, anyone have a power bar by any chance?"

"I have some in my office." Steve said, his tone of voice a bit off. "Hey Chin, come with me while I grab one. You can fill me in on that other case so we'll all be ready for Dr. Mckay to get started."

Chin nodded and followed Steve to his office.

"What'd you find out?" Steve asked as soon as they were out of ear shot.

"Not much." Chin sighed. "Mckay is the real deal, some kind of super genius, great expectations etc. but he falls right off the map about 10 years ago. No more papers. No job history. It's like he disappeared."

Steve nodded. "If he's been working with a clandestine military operation that sounds about right. What about Sheppard?"

"He was a decorated pilot, citations for bravery and what have you but passed over for promotion several times. He doesn't disappear but every single thing about him from his mission reports to where he's stationed to his pay grade goes classified about five or six years ago."

Steve's eyebrows shot up.

"It gets better," Chin continued. "It's almost like someone made up for those passed over promotions because he makes a downright astronomical rise in the ranks starting six months after his records go black."

"So," Steve mused aloud. "Whatever he's doing, it's dangerous. The only way a soldier with proven bad networking skills and political savvy suddenly starts getting promoted is field promotions. It doesn't make sense though."

"Why?" Chin asked.

"That kind of promotion would be going on in an active military zone like Iraq or Afghanistan but look at those guys, Mckay in particular. There's no way that guy just stepped out of the Stan. I mean, I could see a scientist being involved in tracking down possible nuclear or biological terrorist threats maybe but not on an active strike team."

"What makes you think he was in the field?"

"A few things. Take just now, Sheppard told the man to eat. What did he do?"

"Uh, he asked for a power bar?"

"Exactly. He didn't ask if there was a fast food joint nearby or if we had any delivery menus. He didn't ask if we had a vending machine. He automatically reached for a trouser equipment pocket you find in combat gear and when he realized he wasn't wearing fatigues he asked for a power bar, something Special Forces often take with them in the field during short missions in lieu of standard rations."

Steve shook his head as though he could jumble the incongruent facts into some kind of order.

"What about the woman, Emmagen?" He said at last.

"She's a ghost." Chin answered.

"Starting when? Ten or five years ago?"

"Um, starting at birth, Brah." Chin said and shrugged at Steve's frown. "I don't know what to tell you. I scoured all of my sources and walked through every single back door. I can't find any record of Teyla Emmagen." He looked out at the woman in question who seemed to be laughing quietly at a very pleased looking Danny.

"Same thing with the big guy, Ronon Dex. I'd imagine they'd be at least mentioned in the blacked out files I found on Sheppard and Mckay but if they are they're blacked out with every other damn thing in them. I've never seen files like these, Steve. Never. Whatever they're into is so highly classified I'd get a nose bleed just thinking about how high up the chain of command I'd have to be to get read into it."

Steve frowned and mumbled. "Maybe Danny was right."

"What?" Chin asked. "About what?"

"Nothing." Steve said, seeming to be trying to shrug off dark thoughts as he headed out his office door. "Just rethinking my position on fate."

Steve approached Mckay and handed him several power bars.

"I didn't know if you had a favorite flavor." He said by way of explanation.

"It's lemon." Sheppard said with a smirk.

Mckay glared at him and then picked out the cappuccino flavored bar.

"Thank you." He said with a curt nod.

"You're welcome." Steve replied with a smile.

"See, Mckay." Sheppard grinned. "You're more polite already."

"Okay, boys and girls let me remind you that my sister is missing. For those of you not familiar with the Trust I've prepared the best background on them I can manage with the stifling restrictions imposed by the N… uh" Mckay stumbled.

"The US government." Sheppard filled in quickly.

"Yes," Mckay said. "them. Anyway, the Trust is an international clandestine organization. Several members who have been uncovered in the past have been highly and strategically placed. They also seem to have an almost endless supply of resources. They're main interest is in technology.."

"What kind of technology?" Chin interrupted. Technology was his area.

"Uh," Mckay faltered again.

"We're not at liberty to say." Sheppard supplied, filling in for him again.

"You can't say?" Danny asked, surprised. "I mean, can you give us a general idea? Is it computers? Aircraft? Weapons?"

Mckay's lips pressed to thin lines for a moment before he continued.

"It's uh, let's just call it advanced gadgetry." He sighed.

"Guys," Kono interrupted, "This could be important. If your kidnappers are involved in a certain industry, especially an underworld industry, we need to know which contacts to reach out to."

"We are very aware of that, Kono Kalakaua." Teyla said quietly. "Jeanie is very dear to all of us and most especially to Rodney. You must believe that we will give you whatever information we can to help find her but we are operating under certain…" She seemed to search for the right word. "…restrictions."

"What's the ransom?" Danny asked, his voice gruff. "Or is that classified too?"

"There is no ransom." Mckay said.

"Uh, I was kidding! Are you for real? You're not even going to tell us the ransom amount?" Danny asked, completely incredulous.

"I'm not refusing to tell you the ransom amount. There is no ransom. They don't want anything from us. They already have what they want." Mckay almost shouted.

"Mckay!" Sheppard warned.

"Oh I'm sorry. Forgive me if I have a problem playing twenty questions while my sister is at the mercy of people who couldn't find a moral compass with a GPS navigation system!"

"Mckay, calm down." Sheppard said sternly. "You're not helping the situation."

"She's not going to do it." Mckay continued, his eyes dark. "Whatever it is they want her to do, she won't do it and then they'll have to try to force her."

Chin winced at the pained expression on the man's face.

"Every minute we waste here is another minute those men have with my sister!"

"Jeanie is fine, Mckay. Keep it together. Stay focused." Sheppard said in an attempt to calm the man.

"She is not fine!" Mckay shouted. "She's in a hole somewhere enduring god knows what while some whack jobs **_do_** god knows what **_to her_** to get her to do what they want!"

"They don't want anything from Jeanie." Sheppard said, his tone stern and his volume increasing.

"Then why take her?" Mckay shouted back.

"To get to you!" Sheppard yelled.

Chin shifted uncomfortably in the tense silence that followed. Mckay's eyes were wide with shock. He stared at Sheppard who looked away.

"Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?" Danny said at last.

"I'd be happy to, Detective." Mckay said, his voice quiet and shaken. "But apparently I don't know."

"I couldn't tell you." Sheppard said, and it was obvious he was speaking directly to Mckay. "It was an order."

Mckay looked away and said nothing.

"Rodney, please." Teyla began but stopped short as Mckay's head shot back up, his eyes burning.

"You, too?" He said and the betrayal he felt permeated his voice.

"I am sorry, Rodney." Teyla said.

"We had a choice." Sheppard said firmly. "We could tell you and leave you behind or leave that bit out and take you with us. I figured if you could choose; this would be what you'd prefer."

"I wanted to tell you anyway." Ronon said simply.

"Woolsey said if anyone found out you knew, they'd ship you back to A—" Sheppard glanced quickly around at the unfamiliar faces of the 5-0 team. "Back home." He amended.

"They took Jeanie to get to me." Mckay said flatly.

"Yes." Sheppard admitted.

"How long did they give us?" He asked, his voice still hollow.

"Almost 3 months. And Rodney," Sheppard said. "giving them you is not an option."

"Why?" Mckay said bitterly. "Let me guess," His voice lowered and became clipped in obvious imitation of someone. "Mckay is too valuable an asset to turn over to the Trust."

Sheppard sighed. "You're not just an asset Rodney but you are an asset. You're an asset to your family, to our team and to…" He rolled his eyes. "…hell, the whole damn galaxy."

Sheppard grabbed Mckay's shoulder and gave it a rough squeeze. "You're the smartest guy I know. If anyone can figure out where Jeanie is, it's you. I lied to you. I'm sorry. But I knew that I needed you to find her."

Mckay looked up at Sheppard and took a deep breath. "You're right, you can't even find your razor, how are you going to find my little sister without me?"

"There you go, buddy." Sheppard smiled. "Okay, let's fill these guys in as much as we can and get to work."

Mckay nodded. "Alright, as I was saying, the Trust have an interest in technology. My sister is quite brilliant, don't ever tell her I told you this but she's probably the only person I know who is as smart as me."

"Wow, his humility is embarrassing." Danny mumbled under his breath.

"We apparently have some new, old information." Mckay glared at Sheppard. "Apparently, the Trust don't actually want Jeanie, they want me. The deadline to turn me over is?"

"June 3rd." Sheppard supplied.

"That's almost two months away." Kono said. "Why'd they give you so much time? It doesn't make sense."

"That's how long they thought it would take to locate Dr. Mckay and bring him back, am I right?" Steve said.

"Yeah." Sheppard confirmed. "But we weren't as out of reach as they thought we were. Which was really good news because it let us know that their level of infiltration with our ranks has slipped significantly."

"Where on Earth was your team working that this organization assumed it would take two months to get you back?" Danny asked. Then, looking at the faces of the strange team, he held up his hands. "No, no, no, don't tell me. Classified."

"This one whines a lot." Ronon grunted. "Reminds me of Mckay."

"What?" The two men protested in perfect unison and then stared at each other as the other six people in the room laughed.

"Oh, you think that's funny McGarrett?" Danny smiled.

"Actually, yeah, I do." Steve grinned.

"Laugh it up people." Mckay growled. "It's only my sister's life that's in peril. No big deal. Why don't we catch a movie. I can get some popcorn."

"Sorry, Mckay." Steve said. "I'm listening but I do have a quick question."

Mckay rolled his eyes but Steve continued.

"You said earlier that your sister is also a scientist and pretty brilliant but this organization wants you, not her. So, what is it that you have or know that she doesn't?"

Mckay paused and frowned.

"You know, that's actually not a bad question."

"Next time," Sheppard stage whispered. "Try not to sound so surprised."

"What is it I have that Jeanie doesn't?" Mckay seemed oblivious to Sheppard's ribbing. "We both worked with..hmm… she knows about that…she's almost as fluent as I am in…Oh!" His head shot up and he looked at Sheppard.

"She doesn't have the…" He stopped short and glanced around the room.

"…the ene-gay." He finally hissed at Sheppard.

Sheppard blinked. "Uh, Mckay, I'm pretty sure at least one of these guys speaks pig-latin."

Chin certainly did. Mckay had used the childish cryptographic language to say 'gene'.

"She doesn't have the gene?" Chin asked. "What gene?"

"I can't tell you." Mckay said, completely exasperated.

"Suffice it to say, Mckay has a genetic anomaly that allows him to…you know what? It just narrows our focus to a specific type of technology."

"Okay, what?" Chin asked.

The strange team exchanged pained glances before Sheppard sighed, "It's classified."

Chin found himself involuntarily rubbing his temples. This was going to be a long investigation.

* * *

><p>AN: This crossover stuff is hard. I think we're pretty much through trying to explain the one show to the audiene of the other though and can progress more with the plot however I do want to warn readers that this is a lot about the characters, mainly about Mckay trusting his team and McGarrett struggling to trust someone who isnt part of his team. I hope you're enjoying it so far. Reviews are very appreciated as they usually give me an idea of what's working and what isnt. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Kono looked around the big open central room of 5-0 headquarters and sighed. This was a strange investigation. The team they were working with weren't sharing much though, she allowed, they seemed about as happy about it as her team did. There was also a strange amount of lag time considering it was a kidnapping case. Kono'd never come across a case in which the kidnappers gave you a deadline you could measure in months. Every other kidnapping case she'd ever worked on, time was short; a precious commodity.

She smiled at herself. Every other kidnapping case? She'd worked a grand total of two. She felt again that almost overwhelming feeling of being out of her depth. She was still a rookie, not even out of the academy a full year. She should be a beat cop but her cousin had recommended her to McGarrett when 5-0 was forming. It was an incredible opportunity but every once in a while she started to wonder if Chin had really done her a favor or if she would have been better off learning the ropes of grunt police work before being put in a position of such responsibility.

She stopped short. Thoughts like that weren't going to help her find this woman. That's what she needed to focus on. Come to think of it, that's what they all needed to focus on.

Kono walked up to the large touch screen in the center of the room and ran a search. When she found what she was looking for she enlarged the photo and then moved it to the main display screen at the far end of the room.

"I like it." Ronon grunted, startling Kono. She hadn't noticed him sitting quietly to one side.

"Reminds everyone why we're here." He looked at the photo intently. It was an almost idyllic family photo: a young gangly man with dark curly hair, thin framed glasses and a five o'clock shadow was holding up a little girl with dark hair and striking blue eyes. They were being embraced by a smiling blond woman with eyes that matched her daughters and, Kono thought glancing at the scientist bent over a tablet in Chin's office, her brother's.

"You know her?" Kono asked.

"Yeah, she's come to.. uh, help out Mckay a few times." There was an almost imperceptible pause in the sentence. Kono shook her head. The members of this team couldn't seem to have even a small exchange without tripping over something classified. "She's nice." Ronon continued. "Her daughter's nice too."

Kono watched as Ronon's dark expression grew even darker. "I promised her I'd bring her Mommy back to her."

"I'm sorry." Kono said, suddenly thinking of her own mother and how scary it would have been to have her taken from her now, much less when she was a child.

"We'll find her." Ronon said still looking at the photo.

Kono looked at the woman smiling back at her and thought, _I'll get you home to your daughter, Jeanie. I promise._

50SGA50SGA50SGA

"What do you mean it's gone?" Sheppard huffed.

"What else could I mean?" Mckay sighed. "Is there some other way to interpret that sentence? The ancient power signature is gone."

Sheppard grunted in frustration. "How can it just disappear?"

"Well, it's a power signature. They usually go away if someone turns the power to the off position." Mckay said sardonically. "I can keep monitoring the remote feed from the jumper to see if it pops back up again."

"Okay. I talked to McGarrett and Williams. They're running down the incoming flight and passenger ship manifests for the period between Jeanie's abduction and the report we intercepted placing her in Hawaii. Williams said that if we don't find a match they still have someone who's knowledgeable about the local human trafficking rings and he might be able to give us a lead, maybe put us in touch with people who might have been smuggling people onto the island at that time."

Mckay visibly paled when Sheppard mentioned human trafficking.

"Hey, buddy." Sheppard sighed. "You look like death. Why don't you set that thing up to an alarm or something if the power source pops up again, head over to the hotel and get some rest. You haven't slept in days."

"You don't need me to help run down the trafficking lead?" Mckay asked and just the fact that he was asking let Sheppard know how tired he must be.

"Nah, this is something the 5-0 team is better at than us anyway." Sheppard assured him. "I promise I'll let you know the minute we come up with anything that even looks promising. Rest your brain, we're probably going to need it."

Mckay hesitated. "You'll call me the second you come up with something?"

"Scouts honor." Sheppard promised.

"Okay." Mckay capitulated.

"Good." Sheppard smiled. "I'll see if one of the locals can drive you over."

"No, I'll take a taxi." Mckay said quickly as the two men exited the office.

"Taxi?" Steve asked. "Who needs a taxi?"

"Mckay." Sheppard replied. "He's gonna get some shut eye at the hotel."

"I can drive you." Steve said.

"That's okay. A taxi's fine." Mckay said.

"It's no problem." Steve insisted.

"No, I don't want to put you out." Mckay said.

"Really, it's no big deal. It's not even that far."

"Yeah," Danny said. "You want fast, Steve's your man. He can get you there before a taxi'd even show up."

"I insist." Steve smiled. "C'mon, grab your bag."

Mckay didn't look happy about the situation.

"Mckay, for Pete's sake, just go with the man." Sheppard huffed.

"Fine." Mckay growled.

"What he means to say is, 'Thank you Commander McGarrett for driving me to my hotel. How very kind of you.'" Sheppard said, his voice scolding.

"Wh-? He offered." Mckay sputtered.

"It's still polite." Sheppard replied, his voice rising.

"Guys, guys." Steve interrupted, not being able to prevent a smile from his face. "It's fine, really. Let's just go."

"Thank you." Mckay said slowly and clearly to Steve all the while glaring at Sheppard.

"See, was that so hard?" Sheppard asked.

Mckay only grunted and marched away.

"I know he's not very pleasant but he's under a lot of stress." Sheppard said in an apologetic tone.

Steve held up a hand. "No apologies necessary." And he followed Mckay out.

Sheppard watched the two men exit the building and Danny watched him.

"You really care about him, don't you?" He asked.

Sheppard frowned.

"I mean," Danny continued. "You argue a lot but you seem pretty tight."

"Mckay's a little rough around the edges, and don't ever tell him I told you this, but he's the smartest guy I've ever met. It seems like every time I'm in an impossible situation, Mckay comes up with some Hail Mary plan to save the day."

"You guys been in a lot of these life and death situations?" Danny asked.

"More than I'd like." Sheppard said, then smiled. "Then again, once is too often. What about you and McGarrett?"

"Ah, see that's different." Danny said with a smile. "When I'm in a life and death situation it's usually because of Steve, or" he amended, "something Steve's done."

Sheppard smiled.

SGA50SGA50SGA50

Steve and Mckay drove in silence at first.

"So, uh, what do you think of the island so far?" Steve asked at last.

"What? Oh, it's nice." Mckay said.

"Nice?" Steve frowned. "You don't like it?"

"It's very green." Mckay replied. "I don't know, it's nice. I take it you quite like having been posted here."

"I grew up here." Steve smiled. "Best place in America. Some of the world's greatest scenery, not to mention the beaches."

Mckay made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort.

"What you don't like beaches?" Steve asked incredulous.

"Not particularly, no."

"I don't believe it. Two of you?" Steve asked. "I've actually met two people who don't like the beach. Who doesn't like the beach?"

"Look this has been fascinating, and I really hate that I might change the subject but could you tell me where this is?" Mckay said, pointing to a flashing dot on a topographical display of Oahu.

"Looks like somewhere in Keaiwa Heiau State Park." Steve answered. "There's not much out there, campsite and trails though there are a few dirt roads like the ones you came in from the hangar on."

"Huh." Mckay said. "Thank you."

"So why are you interested in the park?" Steve asked.

"What?" Mckay said. "Um, no reason really. It's just uh, just something I looked up on the internet."

"Really? The internet?" Steve asked skeptically.

"Yes." Mckay said simply, saved from any further response or explanation by their arrival at the hotel.

"Well, thank you for the ride." Mckay said.

"No problem. Need help with your bag?" Steve asked.

"No, I'm fine." He hesitated. "Don't let Sheppard do anything stupid while I'm gone."

Steve smiled. "I'll try."

Mckay shut the door and Steve watched as he walked into the foyer of the hotel. He drove around the block and parked on the road with a clear view of the hotel. As he had suspected, within 15 minutes Dr. Mckay walked out of the hotel and hailed a taxi, and he was wearing gear.

Shaking his head, Steve pulled out his cell phone.

"Williams." Danny answered.

"Hey, Danny." Steve said. "I've got eyes on Mckay and he's up to something."

"I thought you took him to his hotel?" Danny asked quietly.

"I did but he was acting suspicious—"

"How could you tell?" Danny interrupted.

"He asked about a location in Keaiwa Heiau but wouldn't give me a straight answer."

"Again, how could you tell?"

Steve smirked. "Anyway, I thought it was worth watching the door for a bit. He's climbing into a taxi now and dressed for action."

"Really?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, really." Steve said. "Look, I'm gonna follow him. See what he's up to. I have a feeling he might have a lead on these Trust guys."

Danny's voice lowered. "You think he's trying to make a trade?"

"Maybe." Steve said. "Maybe he's just trying to run down a lead. Either way, I don't like the idea of him running off on his own."

"You want me to tell Sheppard?" Danny asked.

Steve hesitated. "Nah, I'll keep him in my sites. If I think he's trying to give himself up, I'll stop him. If we all come charging in right now, he might keep whatever lead he's got to himself until he thinks he can run it down alone again."

"Alright." Danny said. "Be careful." Steve could almost hear the smile on the other end of the signal. "Wait, what am I saying? You won't be careful. You don't know what careful means." And he disconnected the call.

"I'm always careful." Steve muttered to himself. The pulled in a few cars behind the taxi. "What are you up to, Dr. Mckay?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so this story seems to be working out. I definitely have much greater respect for all crossover writers now. =) **

**Don't hesitate to let me know what you think. It's always useful. Good feedback is really encouraging and bad feedback is really useful. Thanks for sticking with the story!**

* * *

><p>"Hello."<p>

The voice on the other end of the signal sounded even worse than Mckay felt.

"Hi, Caleb. It's me."

"Mer?"

Mckay winced. He hated his sister's nickname for him and Caleb, only knowing of him through Jeanie for years on end, had picked it up.

"Yeah. Look Caleb, we've wasted enough time so I'll cut to the chase. I know what the Trust really wants. I know you know because you were the one they called with the demand. What I don't know is what information they gave you to arrange contact."

"How do you know?"

"It doesn't matter. Come to that, why didn't you tell me?" Mckay said and his voice sounded pathetic, even to him. "I can see Stargate Command wanting to keep their precious asset safe at all costs but why would you keep this from me?"

Caleb sighed. "Because I knew you'd do what you're probably in the process of doing right now. I don't suppose John Sheppard is available for me to talk to."

Mckay said nothing.

"That's what I thought. Mer, I didn't tell you because this isn't what Jeanie would want." Caleb continued but Mckay interrupted.

"Don't you want her back? Don't you care at all about what might be happening to her?"

"Of COURSE I want her back!" Caleb shouted and then Mckay could hear him take a deep breath and start again. "Yes, Mer, I want her back. Maddie keeps asking about her. She can't sleep through the night unless I sleep in her bed which is just as well because I can't sleep through the night in mine. It's just too big now, too cold, too…empty."

Mckay blinked furiously as a painful stinging assaulted his eyes.

"I want her back, Mer, but giving them you in exchange is a last resort. If it comes down to it then yeah, I think I might be ready to let you do it. I might lose Jeanie forever but at least Maddie would still have her Mom."

"What do you mean, lose her forever? That's the whole point. Get Jeanie back." Mckay said, confused.

"And what would I say when she came back, huh?" Caleb sounded annoyed. "When she came back and asked how I could let her brother take her place, what would I say to make that right? Do you have any idea how bad it was for her when you got sick that time? Or the time she thought you were dead? Do you think I could have a hand in her losing you and have her ever, EVER look at me the same way again?"

Mckay gulped, he still didn't know what to say.

"Holy crap, it's true." Caleb said. "She kept talking about how insecure you were and I didn't get it because, no offense, you've always impressed me as the most opinionated, self-assured man I've ever known but now I get it. You can't even believe that your own sister, your own flesh and blood who crossed two galaxies to help you out of a jam actually, really loves you. No wonder you're so unpleasant. Hell, Mer, who could possibly have made you feel so worthless?"

That did it. To Mckay's eternal gratitude his well honed defenses shot up. "Okay, fine. I'm screwed in the head. Thank you, Dr. Phil. But, oops! Darn it! The time I had allotted for therapy just ran out. Can we get back to the part where you tell me how to save my sister?"

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

"Yes, actually, I did. I heard how Maddie can't sleep. How she wants her Mommy to come home. I'm going to make that happen. How did the Trust want me to contact them when I got back from Peggasus?"

"I can't tell you, Mer. She'd never forgive me."

"Really?" Mckay exploded. "Is it really more important to you that she love you and die than hate you and live? I made that decision a long time ago and honestly Caleb I expected more from you."

Mckay took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"Look," he started again. "if it makes you feel any better to know I won't use the information until we're down to the wire, then fine. You said earlier that was your main objection, correct? That I only give myself up as a last resort? But I can't be sure that I could get in touch with you then, could I? If you give me the information now, I can use it later."

Caleb hesitated.

"Think of your daughter, Caleb." Mckay said, pulling out all the stops. "You asked about how screwed up I was? Well, losing my mother was definitely a contributing factor. I can tell you that."

Caleb still said nothing.

"Please, Caleb." Mckay sighed. "I'm begging you. … I'm begging you. I'll do anything. I'll eat tofurkey."

Caleb barked something between a laugh and a sob.

"Okay, Mer." He said finally. "Okay. They gave me a web address. When you got back from Peggasus, you were supposed to log in with the handle Mckay and the password Jeanie. Once you're logged in, they'll contact you via private chat. That's all they told me."

"Thanks, Caleb. If anything happens tell Jeanie what I said about Maddie and growing up without a Mom. Even if she's mad at you, she'll get over it once she's had a chance to think about that."

"Mer," Caleb's voice sounded warning. "you know the SGC is going to be monitoring that website."

"I know."

"Remember, this is a last resort. Be careful."

"I know," Mckay smiled. "If I get myself killed, you'll be in the dog house."

"There is that." Caleb said and Mckay thought he heard a bit of a smile in the man's voice. "There's also the fact that Maddie loves you and, well, I don't exactly hate you either. You're an odd little man, Mer, I won't deny it but you're a good guy. Bring Jeanie back but bring yourself back, too. Okay?"

Mckay felt that stinging sensation and decided it was time to end the call. He got the web address and hung up as quickly as possible then looked around.

He was surrounded by vegetation. For a moment, he imagined himself on some random planet he and his team had used the Stargate to travel to. But he wasn't on a strange planet. He was on Earth and even though they were mere miles away, his team wouldn't be going with him on this mission.

He took a deep breath against the nervousness (he wouldn't call it fear) that realization had caused and pulled out the ancient device from one of the pockets of his utility vest. He'd lied to Sheppard. The ancient power signature hadn't disappeared. It was somewhere north of his position. This beautiful, colorful vegetation hid the place where he was almost certain his sister was being held.

_Okay, genius._ The voice in his head jeered. _Let's see how your best laid plans will fare._


	6. Chapter 6

Steve suppressed a sigh.

What he'd heard of the phone conversation confirmed his suspicion: Dr. Mckay was planning to offer himself in exchange for his sister. He wondered at the fact that the little scientist had a satellite phone and wished he had such a luxury.

You'd think on an island like Oahu, with a limited and seemingly manageable area to cover cell phone carriers could manage universal coverage. But while the benefit of living on a volcanic island was beautiful mountains covered in the kind of deep lush vegetation that goes with the incredibly nutrient rich volcanic soil, the drawback was, well, mountains covered in deep vegetation. It was impossible to provide coverage for the whole island because there were always pockets, like this valley, that were cut off.

Steve swallowed his frustration, not wanting to alert the scientist.

He was confident he could approach the man undetected and physically force him back to 5-0 headquarters but listening to what he'd heard of that conversation convinced him that Mckay was determined his sister wouldn't suffer when he was the objective. Steve respected that. He knew that in Mckay's place, he'd clam up and wait for his next opportunity. Nah, he couldn't trust Mckay to share whatever information had led him out here. Better to follow, watch him closely and restrain him only when he'd revealed the lead he was following up on.

Steve's eyebrows rose as he continued to watch Mckay. The man who had struck Steve as a strange mix of arrogant and timid pulled a 9 .mm gun and thigh holster from a pocket. After he'd secured the holster he pulled out the gun, popped the clip and checked the load with his thumb, then double checked the chamber before returning it to it's holster. The motions were clean and assured. This was clearly something he did on a regular basis.

What the hell kind of team was Steve working with? An airforce Lt. Colonel, a scientist and two ghosts. Watching Mckay move forward with surprising stealth and what looked like a cell phone or maybe a small tablet computer, Steve shook his head. Make that the Rambo version of a scientist.

Mckay seemed to be referencing something on the device in his hand as any changes in direction were only made after having glanced at it. Steve stopped short as the scientist paused and shrank easily behind cover as Mckay took what appeared to be a careful examination of his surroundings.

"Clever," Steve heard him say, "but not gonna work on me."

He wondered what that meant but pushed the thought aside as Mckay suddenly leaped forward as though dodging a projectile. Steve tensed, looking for what had caused Mckay to leap forward like that but couldn't see any movement, nothing to account for his query's strange behavior. But Mckay didn't repeat the action and seemed to be moving forward at the same careful pace as before. Steve shook his head and continued to follow Mckay's roughly north/northwestern trek.

Suddenly, Steve felt an odd sensation. It was a massive tingling that reminded him of the tingling relief you got when pressure was released from a wound. He was so surprised by the feeling it took him a few seconds to even register the fact that he couldn't move.

SGA50SGA50SGA50

Mckay had recognized the energy signature back at the 5-0 headquarters. It was definitely a shield. An Ancient shield to be exact, one set on cloak. It made sense. A cloak would keep whatever it was the Trust wanted to keep secret from being visible to the scanners of any of the orbiting satellites and starships silently circling the Earth.

Earth. It was still kind of freaky to be back. Grocery stores were particularly intimidating. After over five years of tiny open markets and cafeterias, walking into a grocery store with shelf after shelf of neatly canned, jarred, vacuum sealed and stacked items was overwhelming. Mckay smiled as he remember a comment Ronon had made a week before when they'd made a food run to one of Sheppard's favorite fast food joints.

"People of Earth are so friendly." The huge Satedan had said with an impressed tone.

"Thanks, buddy. What makes you say that?" Sheppard has said smiling.

"This." Ronon gestured to the food. "Whenever you get hungry you just drive up to someone's window and they give you food. It's wonderful."

Mckay and Sheppard had laughed while Teyla and Ronon exchanged confused glances.

"What is amusing?" Teyla had asked.

"They aren't just giving us food." Mckay had explained. "It's a business. We paid for it."

"I didn't see an exchange of goods." Teyla had argued.

"No, we paid them money." Sheppard held up his credit card. "With this."

"But," Ronon frowned. "They gave it right back to you."

"Well, yes, the money is in a bank and the card tells them how to get it."

"What?"

Mckay had continued to try to explain the system but Ronon had stopped him with a upheld hand after only a few sentences.

It was one thing to find someone else's home strange. Mckay thought sadly. It was quite another thing to discover that you had come to find your own home strange. Mckay had often found himself approaching Earth as though it were just another of the odd planets he'd gated to. How had that happened? How had it come about that he felt more at home in an ancient alien city than on his own planet?

He shook his head. This wasn't the time to think about that.

Mckay wondered again if he should have presented his plan to Sheppard. Again he decided that going ahead alone was the right decision. Sheppard would have had to clear the mission with the NID and they'd never approve. It put their asset in too much risk. After all, what did they care about a housewife who dabbled in advanced physics when weighed against the head of research of the entire Atlantis mission? On paper and in their cynical system of weights and measurements, Mckay would seem more important. No, Mckay couldn't trust the NID, which meant he couldn't trust Sheppard. Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Wasn't it Sheppard who'd taught him that?

He had reached the edge of the cloak. It was a smaller model security shield acting in both cloak and shield mode he realized and he needed to figure out how to get past it. He reached out with that part of himself that had control over ancient technology. The ATA or Ancient Technology Activating gene, as they'd come to call it, somehow gave Mckay the ability to interface remotely with various Ancient devices, including this force field Mckay realized with a smile.

"Clever," He said, "but not gonna work on me."

He had to time this perfectly. He needed to shut down the field just long enough to get past. If he were quick enough the men on the other side wouldn't even notice. Even if they did, a quick flash could be interpreted as a power surge or similar defect. Mckay tensed his muscles, ready to spring. He brought down the shield jerked forward and brought it back up. After a few tense seconds he straightened smiling.

He wondered if this were enough? If confirming that there was a shield was enough to confirm Jeanie was behind it. No. He needed to make absolutely sure she was here, that this was where they were keeping her and could be expected to take him once he gave himself up.

Then he felt a fluctuation in the power being emitted from the shield behind him. He recognized it immediately. Someone had breached the field and was being detained by it.

Mckay shot back to the field. The only reason he could think of for the shield to be activated at exactly the point he had breached it was that someone had followed him. Probably someone from a security detail who had either forgotten about the field or assumed Mckay had taken it down completely. Either way, Mckay had to immobilize that person before they were recovered and allowed to report on his breach. If he got caught now, all his careful plans would be ruined.

He stopped short when he reached the field.

"McGarrett!" He shouted in utter surprise.

The 5-0 team leader looked as though he wanted to respond but, of course, the field made it impossible.

Abandoning all pretense at stealth, Mckay sent the mental command to shut off the field and watched with the slightest bit of satisfaction as the ex-SEAL dropped boneless to the ground.

He had to swallow that satisfaction quickly though and leaped forward to grab the man and haul him to his feet.

"The effects will wear off in a few more seconds." Mckay grunted as he draped the man's still lifeless arm over his own shoulders and drug him forward. "C'mon, we've got to get out of here before your idiocy fouls everything up. What the hell are you doing here?"

McGarrett made a garbled sound that was Mckay assumed an attempt at explanation but was completely incomprehensible.

"Less talking." Mckay grunted. "More moving."

He had to get out of there. He had to get back. If they got him now there was no guarantee they'd release Jeanie. There was no exit strategy.

McGarrett finally started moving with more control and soon was not only walking on his own but quickly enough that it was becoming difficult for Mckay to keep up with him.

Mckay felt a coldness in his gut as he heard the sound of pursuit behind them.

"Look," he gasped. "you're faster than me. Run ahead. One of us has to get out of here to report the location to Sheppard."

"I'm not leaving you." McGarrett shouted back.

"Idiot!" Mckay spat. "You've done enough damage. If you get caught with me no one will know where we are. Don't wait for me. If you really want to help me, you'll get your moronic ass out of here as fast as you can."

The man frowned but nodded and was soon putting distance between himself and Mckay at a reassuringly quick pace.

Mckay hadn't quite given up hope on getting to his vehicle ahead of his pursuers by any means and kept running, resisting the urge to sprint at his maximum speed. He'd learned in the past that that instinct was best repressed. If you let fear propel you at an unsustainable pace over a long trek you were more likely to end up at a dead stop or near to it before you reached your goal.

Mckay paced his breathing and his strides carefully, pushing himself as hard as he dared while picking his way through the dense foliage. He was concentrating so hard on the terrain in front of him, he didn't even hear the spat of the stun blast that brought him down.


	7. Chapter 7

"Mer? Mer, wake up. … Meredith!"

Mckay bit back a groan. This was not good.

"Jeanie?" He asked. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. They just carried you in and dumped you on the cot. What are you even doing on Earth?"

"Looking for you." He said grogily. Then smiled and added, as though he'd won a game of hide and seek. "Found you."

"Mer, open your eyes. You're starting to freak me out."

Mckay sighed and braced himself for the pain he knew the light would cause. He blinked the wetness the stinging brought away as best he could.

"So," Jeanie smiled. "How you feeling?"

"Like I've been zapped. I hate being zapped. I think it might affect me more than other people. Seriously. I was zapped in the face once and ever since then, I swear it hurts me more than other people."

Jeanie's face was getting less blurry so he was able to catch the brief rolling of her eyes.

"Well, you came out of it faster than your friend over there." She said doubtfully, her eyes shifting to focus on something to the right. Mckay followed her line of sight and frowned at an unconscious McGarrett.

"Well, he's a first timer." He growled. "And trust me, that moron is not a friend of mine."

"That's disappointing." A strange voice said and the siblings jerked about to face the intruder.

The man to whom the voice belonged was remarkable only in the uniformity of his mediocrity. He had mousy brown hair that was slightly balding. His eyes were blue but in a dull almost opaque shade. His lips were thin but not remarkably so and were pressed together in a contemplative manner.

"I had hoped to use him as leverage but I guess I will have to hold on to Mrs. Miller for that." And he actually smiled apologetically at Jeanie.

Mckay rolled his eyes. He hated this part.

"Okay, fine." He snapped. "You have me. Evil chuckle and hand rubbing aside, just let Jeanie go and I'll do whatever it is you want."

"I'd like to, Dr. Mckay but I don't think I can trust you." The man was smiling a very odd smile and he stepped forward in a mixture of eagerness and apprehension, his hand outstretched. "I'm Jonathan Metcalf, Dr. Mckay and can I just say it is an honor to meet you."

Mckay found himself shaking Metcalf's hand mechanically, completely thrown off guard.

"Um, th-thank you?" He hesitated. "You said give myself up and you'd let Jeanie go." Mckay gestured to himself. "I'm here. She goes. That's the way it works."

"Yes but you didn't follow our instructions…"

"Because they were stupid!" Mckay interrupted. "If I'd followed your instructions the SGC would have come up with some stupid plan to save Jeanie without giving me up, something would have gone wrong because something always goes wrong and Jeanie would most likely either have been hurt or killed. By the way, next time you want something from the SGC, like me for example, take something THEY want. See, they, the SGC & NID etc, control who goes where and how everyone reacts to your little threats and they don't really care too terribly much about my sister."

Mckay glanced at a frowning Jeanie but continued quickly before she could say whatever it was she seemed intent on saying.

"I couldn't risk my sister's life to follow your stupid plan. You wanted me. I came. I came alone. You got me. That's the important part. You've got part of what you want. You've got me. If you let her go, you'll get what you really want, my cooperation."

Metcalf considered that. "You didn't come alone though." And he looked pointedly at McGarrett, still lying on the floor.

"What, him?" Mckay asked incredulous. "I didn't bring him! He followed me. I barely know him. Besides if I were trying to break Jeanie out, I'd bring a lot more than him."

"Yes, about that." Metcalf frowned. "How exactly did you find us?"

"The cloak." Mckay offered.

"But the cloak is undetectable." Metcalf insisted. "That's why they call it a cloak. Not even ancient technology can detect it."

"Yes, that's normally true but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're not using a ZPM to run it. Right? Right. So, you splice together a power interface and use an alternate power source. Because, of course, part of the appeal of that model is it has a unit that recycles power. So essentially once you get it started it helps power itself like the alternator on a car constantly charging the battery. There are almost in detectible surges of power, however, due to the fact that there is no power interface yet invented by humans that can power an ancient device perfectly. I know this because it's been a side project of mine for years and if I haven't done it yet, you sure as hell haven't."

"This is fascinating, Dr. Mckay but it doesn't explain how you were able to detect our undetectable cloak."

"Really? I thought it did. Oh, yes. I forgot I was talking to the kind of people who kidnap and threaten other people to get things done rather than actually thinking and figuring things out for themselves." He snaped. "The power input interface isn't clean."

Mckay looked at Metcalf who just shook his head.

"Egad another Luddite. Why am I still surprised when people are stupid? Why?" Mckay said, seemingly reproving himself before continuing.

"The power input isn't smooth. There are surges. When those bursts of power hit the power recycling apparatus, it can't process the excess power it produces and dissipates it. Let me guess. You had to rig some kind of grounding rod, right? Well, you were correct earlier, the cloak is undetectable but the uniquely ancient power signature you're pounding into the ground like a damned Morse code message is easily detectable with the right equipment if you know what you're looking for."

To Mckay's surprise, Metcalf didn't seem angry or upset but impressed by his diatribe. He was smiling.

"I should have known." He smiled and suddenly seemed very young to Mckay. "If anyone could find us, it'd be you wouldn't it? I mean, for realz, how many times have you saved the world? I told them they were underestimating you but no one listens to me."

"Aw, Mer." Jeanie murmured quietly. "You've got a fan."

Mckay frowned at her and she stuck out her tongue.

"Can this be detected from orbit?" Metcalf asked, having missed Jeanie's comment.

"Well, of course." Mckay snapped. "But it doesn't matter because no one but me would know to look for it."

To Mckay's dismay Metcalf looked pointedly at Jeanie.

"What?" Mckay decided to bluff. For the first time in his life he was actually happy his sister had dropped out of school. "My sister? She's a housewife!" He glared at her and just prayed she understood where he was going with this.

"Exactly how many advanced degrees do you think she has hanging up in her play room? She doesn't understand what I'm saying. Until you drug her into this, she didn't even know the Stargate existed much less that we use it to travel to other galaxies. The SGC would never read her in enough for her to tell anyone what she knows and that's assuming she was able to understand any of it in the first place."

Metcalf raised his hands apologetically. "I'm really sorry, Dr. Mckay. Really. But I can't risk it."

Mckay glared, furious with himself for having explained how he'd detected the shield in front of Jeanie.

"Just let her go." He said and hated the pleading tone of his voice as he realized he was begging. "Please, just let her go home. Her family misses her. You can't use her. Just let her go."

"I'm sorry." Metcalf sighed. "She could lead the SGC here."

"Then move!" Mckay snapped. "Go somewhere else. I'll do whatever it is you want."

"Dr. Mckay," Metcalf said. "I admire you. I do and I respect you but my superiors I suspect are very much like the SGC, they don't care. They don't care how many times you've saved the world in the past. All they care about is saving the world today. To them, the value of one individual life has to be weighed against the lives of every person on the planet. Thanks to the SGC, our resources are limited. We can't afford to move house, Dr. Mckay. Your sister will have to stay here until you're done."

Mckay sighed.

"And what exactly am I going to be doing?"

Metcalf smiled. "What you do best, Dr. Mckay. You're going to save the world."

SGA50SGA50SGA50

McGarrett slowly became aware of his surroundings. He had been trained to regain consciousness without alerting anyone observing him, which is much harder than many assumed; certainly harder than he had assumed. He found himself recalling the first few times he had tried to wake up, to truly awaken, without opening his eyes. The exercise was to register smell before sight and he had failed countless times before perfecting it. It is extremely difficult to enforce discipline in a semi-lucid state. But years of practice had made him an expert so that now, lying on this floor with a pounding in his head like a railroad spike through his skull, neither his eyes nor breath betrayed his wakened state to his captors. He lay still and tried to weigh the danger of his situation.

Eavesdropping on the strange conversation, however, left him more confused than enlightened.

SGC? Stargate? Cloaks? Ancient technology? What were these people talking about? And what was this nonsense about Mckay having saved the world?

The man, Metcalf, mentioned it several times.

"By the world, I assume you mean our world." Mckay snapped. He really wasn't in a good mood. "From what, exactly, does Earth need saving?"

"The Wraith, Doctor." Metcalf answered.

"The Wraith aren't our problem." Mckay sighed. "They're in Peggasus. They don't even know where Earth is."

Wraith? Peggasus? Steve added them to the growing list of things in this conversation that did not make sense.

"For now." Metcalf said, all levity removed from his voice. "What happens when they find Earth?"

"We won't let that happen." Mckay snapped.

"You almost did, not two years ago." Metcalf countered. "Did you think the Trust would somehow miss a Wraith ship entering Earth's orbit?"

Okay, this was starting to take on a surreal edge. Reading in between the lines, a picture was developing and Steve did not like that picture.

"Maybe you also noticed the part where we blew it out of the sky?" Mckay sneered.

"No, I noticed." Metcalf said. "And I'm grateful. We're on the same side, Dr. Mckay. But you've got to agree that scenario was too close for comfort. The Wraith cannot be allowed to turn the Milky Way into their new feeding ground."

Feeding ground? Of all the disturbing things said, that had to be the most disturbing.

"I repeat: What exactly am I going to be doing?" Mckay asked.

"You're going to move the Earth."

"Excuse me?"

"We gained access to your research on bridging universes and scientists associated with the Trust have reviewed it…"

"This is about my power research? Your scientists obviously didn't skip to the end. You know, the part where my experiments failed miserably and almost destroyed two universes, ours included."

It took all of Steve's discipline to remain motionless and he was afraid that if anyone were paying close attention they'd have noted that last rather sharp intake of breath but thankfully both men seemed pretty intent on the conversation they were having; the extremely disturbing conversation they were having.

Was it possible what they were saying? These 'Wraith' were clearly aliens of some sort, nasty people eating aliens from the sound of it. It also sounded like these aliens were trying to attack Earth and that Mckay had something to do with keeping them from doing that. Space travel certainly helped explain why a physics expert would be on an elite strike force. This was just so insane. Steve forced himself shelve his coinfusion and to continue paying attention to the conversation.

"No, I wasn't aware of that development." Metcalf was saying in answer to Mckay's outburst. "That must . However, our scientists noted something in your early research that you seem to have overlooked."

"If I overlooked it, it was because it wasn't worth noting." Mckay snapped.

"Perhaps not." Metcalf said. "Perhaps you just weren't in a position to see its potential."

"Okay, then what is it? What is this amazing thing I supposedly overlooked?"

"You dismissed the possibility of creating the type of wormhole used in Stargates."

"Well, of course!" Mckay sputtered, once again interrupting. "I wanted a stable transfer of power. A wormhole of that nature without a refining structure would create an enormous vortex and horizon. If you tried to open a wormhole like that on a planet it would automatically increase to a size that would encompass the entire mass of the planet. It would…"

Mckay's voice trailed off and was followed by nothing but silence.

Finally someone spoke. It was Mckay.

"The planet would be sucked into the vortex of the wormhole. It would disappear."

"Not exactly." Metcalf disagreed. "It would cease to exist in this universe, yes, but it would appear in another universe with nary a scratch."

"But the creation of the wormhole would disrupt the alignment of the planets. Our entire solar system would come unhinged."

"The solar system here would, yes. But the disruption on the other side of the wormhole would be negligible. The opening of the vortex would encompass the Earth on the other end and our Earth would simply appear in its place."

"The other Earth would be destroyed." The soft female voice Steve had identified as Mckay's sister Jeanie murmured. "All those people, every last person on Earth would die."

"Not on this Earth." Metcalf insisted. "The people on our Earth would barely notice. The trip through the wormhole would be almost instantaneous. The people of Earth would basically see a bright light for a second, perhaps even a fraction of a second and all would be as it was except they would be in a universe in which Earth never discovered the link between galaxies. Where Stargate travel is limited to the Milky Way."

"People would know, though." Mckay insisted.

"What people, Dr. Mckay?" Metcalf asked. "The SGC has kept our ability to travel to other planets a secret from the world."

Whatever miniscule doubts lingering in Steve's head were dismissed by that last statement.

"The SGC would know." Mckay sputtered. "_**I**_ would know."

"Do you really think the SGC would try to re-establish contact with Peggasus?" Metcalf asked doubtfully. "It most likely wouldn't even be possible. Remember, Atlantis surviving your initial visit was sheer luck. Think of what you know of the people in charge; the SGC, the NID, the IOA."

"You're right." Mckay admitted.

"You see?" Metcalf said. "Problem solved."

"Except that all the people on the Atlantis base would be abandoned. All the thousands of people in the Peggasus galaxy would be left to fight the Wraith alone, without our help, not to mention the billions on that other Earth."

"The people of Peggasus survived for millennia before we arrived there, Dr. Mckay." Metcalf said and for the first time, he sounded angry. "It's not our fight. It never was and the SGC's stubborn refusal to admit that and walk away jeopardizes the lives of every man, woman and child on this planet."

"So, your solution is to wipe out every man, woman and child on another Earth and abandon the people of Peggasus?"

"My duty is to protect the people of this Earth, Dr. Mckay." Metcalf said, completely unapologetic. "I understand why you would be repulsed by this solution and I admire the instincts that cause you to. You are a great man but this isn't the time for greatness. This is the time for survival instincts. I would rather save our planet and be remembered in whatever eventual history might be written as a villain. Let those people hate me; detest me and everything I stand for, just so long as they're alive and able to do it. I don't care."

"I won't do it." Mckay stated.

"Please don't say that, Dr. Mckay." Metcalf pleaded. "If you say that, they'll have to force you. I meant what I said earlier about admiring you. You don't want to see what they're willing to do to force your cooperation. You will do it eventually, trust me. Just do it now and avoid all that, please."

There was a long pause but Mckay made no reply.

"Look, I'll give you a couple hours to talk it over with your sister. If you're still refusing to cooperate then, it'll be out of my hands. I really hope she can talk some sense into you, Dr. Mckay for both your sakes."

Steve heard the door open and shut and then what sounded like someone sliding down the wall.

"You can't do it, Mer." He heard Jeanie say. "I'd rather die than be in any way responsible for something like that."

"Well," Steve said, grinning at the surprised gasps as he opened his eyes and lifted himself off the floor. "fortunately, I don't think it'll come to that."

"How much did you hear?" Mckay asked.

"A lot." Steve answered. "But I'm not sure how much I really understood. I heard something about a Stargate and a wormhole and something about the end of the world. The point I got out of it is, none of the really bad things being discussed will happen if you don't cooperate."

"I won't." Mckay said with a stubborn lift to his jaw.

Steve sighed. "Everybody breaks eventually, Mckay. That's one of the first things they teach you SERE school, you have to escape because given enough time, everybody breaks. We won't let them break you though."

"I like the theory." Jeanie said. "One question though, exactly how are be going to keep my brave big brother from breaking when everybody breaks?"

"We do what they trained us to do in SERE school."

"Yeah, I missed SERE school." Jeanie said. "I must have taken a baking class instead. Could you give me the cliff's notes version?"

Steve smiled. She really wasn't all that different from her brother.

"Survival. Evasion. Resistance and, my favorite, Escape."

"Well, why not?" Mckay said, standing up. "After all, we're just in a locked windowless room in a compound about which we know nothing surrounded by a shield, an unknown number of guards and I think you get the point. Honestly, escaping from a Wraith Hive ship looks easy by comparison. At least in one of them I have a vague notion of the lay of the land."

"Yeah, speaking of missing a class. You're gonna have to explain all this people eating alien stuff to me."

"It's classified." Mckay said, automatically.

"Um, Mer." Jeanie said and then continued in a stage whisper. "I think he's figured out the big secret."

She wacked her brother on the back of the head in a practiced manner.

"I'm pretty sure you can trust him. Fill him in."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry about the dealy in updating. My son graduated from pre-school, there was a holiday and we're finalizing the adoption of my daughter this Friday. Things have been super hectic but, thankfully, they seem to be slowing down so there should be plenty of time for writing in the near future. I hope you're all still enjoying the story and like the direction of the plot. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Steve was thinking, really thinking and remembering his training.

_Always know what tools you have. Don't discount anything. _

"Empty your pockets." Steve said, following his own order. "Jeanie, is it?"

The woman nodded and Steve held out his hand.

"Steve McGarrett. Nice to meet you."

"You, too. I wish it had been under better circumstances."

Steve nodded. "This is kind of an awkward question but are you by any chance wearing an underwire bra?"

Jeanie blushed. "Um, yeah."

Mckay glared and began to sputter but Steve headed him off.

"If we want to escape we need to take an inventory of every resource available to us and, I'm sorry, but the metal in an underwire bra could be useful." He shrugged. "If we can't use it I'll hand it back over but for now the best thing to do is put everything we've got in one place where we can see it. It helps. Trust me."

Mckay seemed to be considering this carefully but Jeanie was already unhooking the clasps of her bra under her shirt. Once unclasped she ran the straps down her arms and pulled the bra out from under the front of her shirt without having to take it off.

"Neat trick." Steve said, grinning.

"Oh, I've got a few up my sleeve." Jeanie smiled.

"And just where did you learn that?" Mckay asked. "And why?"

"I'm not 14 anymore, Mer." Jeanie sighed. "I'm a mother. I've had sex. Lots and lots of sex."

"Crap, Jeanie. Stop! I can't hear this." And Steve couldn't help but grin as Mckay unceremoniously clasped his hands over his ears.

As Steve had feared, Mckay had been searched thoroughly, a consequence of his being armed and wearing gear. Jeanie had clothes provided to her by their captors so the underwire bra was her only contribution. Steve, on the other hand, had been given a precursory search at best. Only a few things like his phone and weapon seemed to be missing. They'd even left him his wallet.

He pulled off his watch, removed the face, unclipped the bands and then unspooled them revealing the wire camping saw. He took the back, which doubled as a small can opener off the watch face and placed that neatly down and then switched the digital display from the time to reveal its function as a GPS device. He then took off his shirt, took off his silk undershirt, placed the undershirt in the pile and then put his shirt back on.

He looked up to see both Mckay and his sister regarding him with odd expressions.

"What?"

"Who _**are**_ you?" Mckay asked.

Steve shrugged. "It never hurts to be prepared."

"For what? A vampire apocalypse?" Mckay snapped.

"Hey, you're the one who apparently fights people eating aliens." Steve shot back.

"They don't _**eat**_ you. They suck the life essence out of you." Mckay grumbled.

"What? Like The Dark Crystal?" Steve asked.

"Shhhh!" Jeanie interrupted. "Keep your voices down."

"I'm just saying," Steve continued in a more subdued tone. "compared to you, I'm normal."

"Trust me, Steve." Jeanie said fingering the wire saw. "You are not normal but in a very, very good get-us-out-of-here kind of way."

Steve grinned. "I can live with that."

"Are you flirting with my sister? Seriously?" Mckay demanded. "Not only is this just not the time, but she's a married woman!"

"Yeah," Steve said. "I heard. I didn't put my hands over my ears."

Jeanie blushed apparently regretting what she'd said earlier but Steve didn't notice. He was staring at the tools in front of him, running through their possible uses and making sure all of them were secure in his mind as well as the few things he hadn't added, like their shoe laces.

Once he was sure he had it all straight in his head, he started looking carefully at the room.

_You can't get out of a prison until you get out of your cell._

The door was reinforced and double bolted. Steve walked over to the wall on the other side, felt it and smiled. Keeping his palm against the wall, he gauged the heat coming off of it. He then did the same with the other walls. When that was done he started tapping forcefully with his knuckle along the wall on the right side, every once in a while he would use the small metal can opener that he had taken from the back of his watch to make a mark.

"Sorry," Mckay said at last and Steve smiled as the Canadian inflection confirmed his early suspicion that the scientist was from the great white north. "but what exactly are you doing?"

Steve fought the urge to sigh and felt that keen surge of nostalgia for his SEAL team. He had never really appreciated working with a team that had a similar level of training until he'd returned to civilian life. True, everyone on his special forces teams had their own areas of expertise but he didn't have to constantly stop to explain things that to anyone with survival and evasion training would not only be self evident but second nature.

"I'm getting as good an understanding of where this room is in the building as I can. Unless we were out for over 4 hours the sun is still up…"

"You were only out for about 20 minutes after they brought you in." Jeanie supplied, interrupting.

"Yeah and stun blasts differ between the zat and wraith guns but neither one lasts over 2 hours…unless you get hit in the face."

For some reason the man's face twisted when he said the last bit. Steve wondered briefly at the story behind that facial expression but dismissed his curiosity.

"Right." He affirmed. "Insulation isn't very common in older buildings on the islands so usually in the late afternoon and early evenings exterior walls, especially those facing east, will be warm to the touch."

"Ah!" Jeanie exclaimed. "So, if one of the walls is warm, it's an exterior wall."

"Exactly." Steve said. He had to give it to them, these two were sharp. "Unfortunately, none of these walls was any warmer than the others. I can't pick the lock on the door which is double bolted by the way…"

"How do you know that?" Mckay asked, interrupting.

"Shadows. There's enough of a gap between the jam and the door for me to make out the bolts." Steve said tightly. This explaining was a waste of time and the questions were making it take even longer. "But as I was saying, since there is no access to the lock from this end, there's no chance of unlocking the bolts. The only way out is through the walls. We're lucky that our captors seem to have made a very common mistake. They've got a very good strong door but haven't done anything special to the walls." He knocked on the wall for emphasis. "It's just dry wall. So, we find the studs, that's what the tapping was, break through the dry wall, and squeeze through the studs. If they're too narrow, we use the wire saw to cut one of them out."

Mckay raised his eyebrows. "That- that's actually not bad."

"It is kind of what I do, doctor."

Jeanie raised her index finger hesitantly. "One question?"

Steve nodded as she seemed to need some kind of permission to continue.

"That just gets us out of the room. What do we do then?"

"The first thing we need to do is make sure that we won't be walking straight into our captors arms." As he had been talking he'd removed the wires from the bra. He turned the cot on its side and, pressing the two wires together, he used the flat edge to loosen screws and remove a large piece of metal pipe. He then made a sizeable hole in the right wall with the pole and enlarged it with his hands. He twisted the metal wires together and then folded them over and, carefully applying pressure, drilled a small hole in the dry wall on the other side.

The result was a small and, hopefully, easily overlooked peep hole.

Steve leaned forward into the gap between the sheet rock, looked through and smiled.

"We're in luck." He said. "Looks like the room next door is some kind of pantry."

"Why does that make us lucky exactly?" Mckay asked.

This time Steve did sigh. "Because people don't often go in and out of pantries and pantries are usually either in a kitchen or very near one and kitchens, doctor, are almost always built along exterior walls with outside access."

Mckay seemed to be aware that he was asking a lot of questions because he was uncharacteristically quiet while Steve removed the rest of the dry wall.

"Okay," Steve said as he looked at the gap he'd created between the room they currently occupied and the pantry. There were several shelves stacked with cooking supplies on the other side. This would be tricky. "We need to grab this stuff. Get it off the shelf. Then I can take it down."

"Why bother?" Mckay asked, seemingly unable to help himself.

"Because Mckay!" Steve snapped. "If we move the shelf with all this crap on it, it'll make a bit of a racket and that might catch someone's attention, don't you think?"

"Sorry." Mckay mumbled.

"I'm sorry, too." Steve sighed. "We just need to hurry."

Mckay nodded and the three captives continued their escape in silence.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back at 5-0 headquarters Danny was checking his watch. He didn't seem to like what he saw there because he frowned, pulled out his cell phone and hit redial.<p>

After the beep he whispered fiercely. "Where are you? Call me the second you get this message, Steve. If I haven't heard from you in the next 30 minutes I'm going to assume things went toes up and tell the tourists about Mckay. Call me!"

He disconnected the call and turned to see a rather large chest encompassing his entire eye line. He looked up into the grim face of Ronon.

"What about Mckay?" Ronon growled.

"What?" Danny said. It was all he could think of.

Ronon grabbed him by his shoulders and lifted him into the air as easily as Danny might lift his daughter.

Now, eye to eye with Ronon, Danny realized he had greatly underestimated just how intimidating the man could be.

"What do you know about Mckay? You will tell me, _**now**_."

Danny only momentarily considered another denial. Screw it. He was worried about Steve. … At least, that's what he told himself.

"He took off after Steve dropped him at the hotel. Steve followed him."

Ronon grunted and just let go of Danny who just barely managed to keep from falling to the ground.

"Sheppard." Ronon barked, and his voice carried throughout the large main room.

"What's up?" Sheppard said, coming out of Chin's office. "Did Chin and Kono call in something?" The two cousins had left about 20 minutes earlier to make some inquiries with a few contacts.

"This one says Mckay is gone." Ronon answered, pointing to Danny.

Sheppard's amiable expression hardened. "What's he talking about Williams?"

"When Steve dropped off Mckay, he said he thought he was acting funny on the drive." Danny said and hated the fact that this revelation had an almost confessional quality. He shrugged. "So, Steve hung outside the hotel and saw Mckay come out in gear and call a cab. Steve followed him."

"Damn it Rodney!" Sheppard said fiercely. "I knew it. I knew that power signature didn't just disappear." He turned back to Danny. "Where is he now?"

"I don't know." Danny said. "I haven't heard from Steve in a while now. Last I heard, he was giving me a heads up before heading into a dead zone in a national park near here."

"A *dead* zone?" Teyla asked with concern. "Why would he enter such a place?"

"Cell phones." Sheppard said quickly. "It just means cell phones won't work there."

Danny frowned. These people were weird.

"You know where this was?" Sheppard asked his attention back on Danny.

"Yeah, it's not that far."

"Damn, and Mckay took our stuff to the hotel." He thought for a moment. "Okay, you're coming with us. We're going to the hotel, grabbing our gear and then you're taking us to wherever it was McGarrett last contacted you."

"What about my gun?" Ronon asked.

"Which gun?" Sheppard asked back.

"My good gun." Ronon replied with a raised eyebrow.

Sheppard looked from Ronon to Danny and back again.

"Bring it." Sheppard said finally. "I'd rather ask forgiveness than permission." He turned to Danny. "Let's go."

"Now wait a minute." Danny said. "You can't march into a national park guns blazing. There's protocol. We need to contact HPD…."

Ronon grabbed Danny by the arm and started to propel him forward before he could finish.

"Hey, hands off." Danny snapped and struggled.

Sheppard turned back to Danny and his expression was fierce.

"Look, we probably don't have time for this but I'm thinking we'll go faster if you have a few facts. You may not think much of Mckay but that man is a genius and his genius has saved your life on at least three occasions."

"My _life_?" Danny snorted. "I've never met the guy before today."

"Nope, you haven't." Sheppard snapped. "But you live on this planet and since Mckay's actions have saved everyone on this planet on more than one occasion the statement stands. Mckay is a vital and necessary asset to the entire universal human race!"

Sheppard took another step forward and continued fiercely. "He's also my friend and a damn good one at that. So, you will come with us and we will do whatever is necessary to get him, his sister and your friend out of trouble. And I swear to you, if you do anything from this second forward that is not helping me accomplish that goal, I will tie you up and have Ronon carry you. Now get moving."

Danny watched a bit dumbfounded as Sheppard turned and stalked toward the door. Ronon stepped forward menacingly. "What he said."

Danny followed the Colonel.


	9. Chapter 9

Steve watched uncomfortably as a flush of shame spread across Mckay's face. He couldn't fit through the studs. That meant they'd have to saw through one of them which, of course, was going to take a hell of a lot longer.

"Hand me the saw, Mckay." Steve said.

"No, I'll handle it. You get Jeanie out. I'll follow when I can."

Steve didn't like it and said so.

"You're the one they want…"

"And you're leverage." Mckay snapped, interrupting. "Especially Jeanie."

Steve glanced at Jeanie and lowered his voice. "If they can't threaten us there's only one way they can try to coerce you."

The expression on Mckay's face made clear to Steve that he had experience in those forms of persuasion; no bravado, just a cold dread.

"I know, but I can hold out against that a lot longer than I could anything involving my sister. Get her out."

"C'mon." Steve insisted. "If we're all taking turns sawing, it goes faster and we have a better chance of getting out of here together."

"When we were running, I told you to run ahead and you did. You knew it was the right choice then. You know it's the right choice now. The chances of my getting out with you are only slightly better than me getting out on my own. Whereas your chances of getting out alone are much better. It's in my best interests for you to get clear and call the calvary. Besides," Mckay snapped. "this conversation hinges on the assumption that I can't get out on my own, an assumption I find a bit insulting."

Steve couldn't help grinning and was a little surprised when Mckay grinned back.

"You're alright, doctor." Steve said.

"Well, you're not entirely useless yourself." Mckay replied grudgingly.

Steve nodded and turned to Jeanie. "Let's go."

"No." Jeanie stated. "I won't…"

"I'll catch up." Mckay interrupted.

"Mer, I'm not leaving you here." She hissed.

"Jeanie," Mckay said softly. "You don't get a choice. You're a mom. Mom trumps sister."

Jeanie hesitated, everything about her expression and body language betraying her internal struggle.

"Damn you, Mer." She said at last. "Don't you dare leave me hanging."

Mckay smiled. "I'm a genius. If I can sneak on and off hostile hive ships, I can certainly get out of a silly little compound."

"You better." Jeanie grunted, blinking rapidly.

"No more time." Steve said. "We've gotta go. Mckay, I'll wait by my vehicle as long as possible."

"But.." Mckay began.

"But if I see anyone heading down that hill but you, I'll get your sister out of here."

Mckay nodded.

"Good luck." He said.

Steve held out his hand and smiled as the scientist shook it firmly.

"You too."

He inched the pantry door open and peeked out. After a few moments he motioned to Jeanie and headed out the door. Jeanie looked back one last time at her big brother nodded silently and followed the Navy SEAL out the door.

Mckay felt an edge of panic trying to rise up but squashed it mercilessly. He placed the wire saw around the base of the stud, grabbed the make shift handles Steve had fashioned from his silk under shirt and started sawing leaning back and letting his above average weight work to his advantage.

Time was running out.

Steve had Jeanie follow closely behind with a hand placed on his shoulder. This allowed her to sense his movements. It was a much better indicator of what your teammate was doing when stealth was paramount to the mission. Steve was impressed with the woman's composure. Mckay's as well. Once again, the thought of inhabited planets, galaxies, monsters and intergalactic wars pressed in on his thoughts but he pushed them back to the recesses of his mind. He had to focus on the problem at hand. He could freak out over E.T.s later.

Steve crouched behind a counter and then rushed forward through the kitchen that had, as he had expected, been immediately adjacent to the pantry. When near the door, he glanced out and found a guard walking, if the trampled grass was any indication, a set perimeter near the tree line. There was a lot of open ground between the door and the guard but not too much, if he timed it correctly.

"Jeanie." Steve whispered. "Stay here. Watch for my signal, then run like hell. Got it?"

Jeanie nodded, not making a sound and Steve smiled, again impressed by her instincts.

He waited, tensed for the guard to turn his gaze away and then sprinted forward, lightly on the balls of his feet. When he reached the guard, the man still had his back turned. Steve stepped on the back of the man's knee, grabbed his arm as he pitched forward, jerked his upper body back as he brought his fist down on his temple, doubling the force of the impact. The guard crumpled without a sound. Steve pulled the unconscious body into the tree line and checked for indications of any other surveillance. When he was certain the coast was clear, he signaled Jeanie who darted quickly across the yard.

Once Jeanie was in the clear, Steve took off the guards shirt and his belt. He used the belt to secure the guards hands behind a tree and his shirt as an effective gag. The blow he'd given the man should keep him unconscious for a good hour but Steve didn't want to chance it, not with Mckay following behind.

He gauged his position and headed off at a jog in the general direction of his car. He'd been stunned with that strange weapon long before he'd made it back, so it was a pretty safe bet the car was still there. He glanced back a few times to make sure Jeanie was keeping pace. She was, a determined look on her face.

He felt a strange buzzing and stopped immediately, holding up his hand as a signal to Jeanie. The buzzing reminded him of the field he'd been trapped in when he'd first arrived at this strange intersection between the world he knew and this new bizarro world.

"I think," He said, his breathing heavy from the running, "I think this is where that field is. I need you to shut it off."

"What?" Jeanie exclaimed, even more out of breath.

"You know." He waved his hand around his head. "Do that thing Mckay did and shut it off."

"I can't." Jeanie replied.

"What?"

"I don't have the gene."

"What gene?" Steve frowned.

"The field is Ancient technology. Only descendants of the ancients can work some of it. I don't have the gene." Jeanie explained.

"How can Mckay have it and you not?" Steve demanded.

"Mer's gene was artificially introduced. The procedure only works about 50% of the time and it just didn't work on me." Jeanie shrugged. "Sorry. I guess we have to wait for Mer."

Steve suspected she wasn't overly disappointed by this turn of events. He started in the direction of the wall he couldn't see but could feel before him, preventing his escape. He wished the damn gene process had worked on Jeanie. He wanted to get back to his team, regroup and go back for Mckay. He wanted this damn thing off.

Suddenly, the buzzing stopped.

"It's gone." He said, surprised.

"What?" Jeanie asked.

"The field." Steve said. "The field is gone."

"How can you tell?" Jeanie asked.

"I could feel it. Like a buzzing and now it's stopped."

"Steve run!" Jeanie yelled, startling him a bit but he complied.

"Now this is really important." She nearly shouted. "I want you to think really hard about the field being back on. I want you to want it back on with all your heart mind and soul!"

Steve concentrated on wanting the field, that buzzing, back in his head and suddenly it was.

He turned to Jeanie who seemed to be waiting for something.

"I hope that was fast enough." She said, relaxing marginally. "C'mon. If it wasn't, we're Mer's only hope."

"Wait," Steve said. "What was that? What just happened? I thought you said you couldn't turn it off."

"I can't. I didn't." Jeanie said. "You did."

"WHAT?" Steve yelled. This was a little too much.

"Look, it's impossible to guess who's going to have the gene. It just seems to show up randomly and is really rare. It looks like you're part of the lucky 3%. It's nothing bad. You're fine and I promise, classified or not I'll explain everything later but right now we've got to go. If someone noticed the field went down just now they're going to head straight for Mer."

Steve nodded. Of course, she was right. He forced himself to face the direction of his car and started jogging. Jeanie was right. If those Trust guys had noticed what he just unconsciously did, Mckay could be in a world of trouble.


	10. Chapter 10

Sheppard stepped cautiously forward. This felt familiar, almost comforting. Ronon, Teyla and he walking through an unknown jungle. Even the complaining was familiar though the voice wasn't.

"Why can't you tell me what's going on? Huh?" Det. Williams asked … again. John felt a sudden jerk on his tack vest. The manhandling was new.

"Answer me!" Williams insisted.

"Look," Sheppard said, holding up a hand to stop an advancing Ronon. "I appreciate that you're worried about your teammate but the only reason that my teammate is in trouble is because your teammate didn't trust us and went and let him do something stupid."

"Trust you?" Williams barked. "Right, because you've been so trusting. You wouldn't tell us a damn thing."

"It's classified." Sheppard growled.

"Screw you!" Williams yelled, inches from Sheppard's face.

"Quiet!" hissed Teyla. "You are acting in a ridiculous fashion!" She scolded.

"Yeah," Ronon said. "Fighting isn't gonna help Mckay or McGarrett."

"Good point." Sheppard said. "Okay, Williams. Here's the deal. We're space explorers. Our job is to travel from planet to planet in a distant galaxy looking for alliances, weapons and technology that will help us defeat a race of aliens that live off of the life force of human beings and would, if given the chance, slaughter and enslave every man, woman and child on Earth. Now you've been read in. Happy?"

Williams fumed. "You think you're funny fly boy?"

"See," Sheppard said. Stalking off into the jungle once again. "This is why we didn't tell you."

"Don't know why Earthlings find it so hard to believe there are people on other planets." Ronon said, apparently to Teyla.

"I believe it is because so much of their myths and legends revolve around such occurrences. The possibility has by association become fantastic in their minds."

"What?" Williams said, following sulkily behind. "I'm supposed to believe this garbage?"

"Believe what you want." Sheppard said testily. "Do what you want. I don't care. Just keep up and keep your damn voice down."

Williams may not have liked the situation but he complied. Sheppard tried to think of things from his and McGarrett's point of view. He and his team showed up, keeping things from them. But, damnit, they'd been up front about it. It wasn't like he liked keeping things from them.

Maybe it was a kind of justice for them to keep things from his team but it wasn't smart and it might have cost Mckay his life.

_Don't think like that._

He rebuked himself. He needed to clear his head of all this. Focus on the task at hand. Ronon was on point, tracking back from McGarrett's car. It was comforting to know Ronon had the trail. Once Ronon was tracking something, it was as good as found. Just a matter of time.

Suddenly, Ronon crouched down, his hand up in the air. Sheppard and Teyla stopped instantly but Williams couldn't see Ronon and wasn't paying close enough attention to Sheppard and Teyla to notice they'd stopped in time. He barreled into Sheppard and the two went down hard.

"What the hell?" Williams snapped.

"Danny?" A voice called from ahead and Steve McGarrett stepped out from cover. "What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded. "I almost killed you!"

"What about you?" Williams shot back. "I've been calling you for hours."

"I was held up." Steve said then turned. "It's okay. He's on my team."

Sheppards eyes widened as a familiar face stepped out from behind a tree.

"Jeanie!" He exclaimed. "It is_ good_ to see you."

To his surprise, Jeanie only nodded. Sheppard instantly knew something was wrong.

"Where's Mckay?"

"Somewhere behind us." Steve said.

"You left him behind?" Sheppard demanded, fiercely.

"Hey!" Williams barked and placed himself between Sheppard and Steve.

"He insisted. Jeanie and I squeezed through some wall studs of the room they'd locked us up in, but Mckay couldn't make it. He was gonna saw through and meet up with us when he could."

"And you just left him there?" Sheppard asked, stepping forward against the pressure of Williams' hand on his chest.

"Yeah, I did." Steve said, unashamed. "He asked me to get his sister out of harm's way and I promised I would."

Sheppard looked at Jeanie and collected himself.

"Where is he now?" He said after a moment.

Steve jerked his head to the West. "About two miles that way. There's a compound behind some kind of gnarly shield type thing. I shut it off before I knew what I'd done. Jeanie told me how to get it back up but we're not sure I did it in time."

"Wait, wait, wait a minute." Sheppard said, holding up his hands. "Are you telling me you've got the ATA gene?"

Steve shrugged. "Apparently I'm part of some lucky 3%."

"This sounds like a lovely conversation you two are having." Williams interrupted. "I'm sure I'd find it equally fascinating if I had any idea _what the hell you were talking about_!" He finished fiercely.

"There are life sucking aliens who want to find Earth and kill us all. Colonel Shephard's team fight them and some gnarly guys called the Trust want Mckay to move Earth to an alternate universe but if he does, the other Earth will be destroyed so he won't and we've got to rescue him if he hasn't managed to rescue himself by now." Steve said in an emotionless and clear tone.

Williams blinked. "For real?"

"For real." Steve confirmed.

"I knew I should have taken you up on that offer to go home." He muttered. "Okay, what do we do?"

"Just like that?" Sheppard asked. "I told you that same thing five minutes ago and you practically hit me."

Williams turned to him with a strange look. "You're a crazy Colonel I've know five minutes who can't say ten words without two of them being 'it's classified'. Steve's the crazy Commander who tries to get me killed every five minutes and has no sense of humor. Of the two of you, Steve's the one I'll be trusting, that okay with you, Sparky?"

Sheppard just raised his eyebrows.

"Alright Teyla," He said turning to the Althosian. "You take Jeanie back to 5-0 headquarters with Williams. Get on the horn with the SGC and let them know our status. I'll take Ronon and McGarrett and we'll trek back to the compound. Hopefully, we'll run into Mckay. If we get to the shield and Mckay doesn't show after ten minutes, we go in after him."

"Why wait?" Steve asked.

"If you managed to get that shield back up in time, Mckay could still have gotten out." Sheppard explained. "Shutting off the shield again could draw unwanted attention to him. OR you alerted the guards and they've got him under lock and key. Ten minutes one way won't make too much of a difference. After all, they want him alive. Ten minutes the other way could mean him getting out unnoticed and unharmed."

Steve nodded. "Got it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Williams protested. "Why am I getting sent back with the girls?"

Ronon grinned and shook his head.

"I don't have time for this." Sheppard sighed. "I'm sending you back because you're dressed like an insurance salesman. For the record, Teyla Immagen is not a 'girl'. She can kick you ass seven ways to Sunday. I'm sending her back because she's one of the best diplomats I've ever come across and I'm hoping she can convince the powers that be not to lock you two in a small dark room for the rest of your natural lives to protect their precious secret. Considering that, I would advise you to apologize to her and hope like hell she's successful."

Sheppard watched a bit smugly as Williams shifted his gaze to Teyla's. Teyla, for her part, was looking every bit the killing machine she was and Williams gulped convulsively.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

Sheppard caught Steve's eye and jerked his head to the West. "Let's go."


	11. Chapter 11

Metcalf dreaded opening the door. He sincerely doubted Mckay would reconsider without some kind of persuasive measure being taken. He'd just spent the last hour convincing his superiors to start with the unknown man they'd captured with Mckay instead of Mckay's sister.

Metcalf placed his hand on the door latch but hesitated before scanning his access card. He couldn't be sympathetic. He couldn't let them see how much what was about to happen would bother him. He had to be strong. The fate of the world depended on it.

An image of the photo he'd seen in Mckay's wallet flashed unbidden behind his eyes. Mckay standing a bit awkwardly as his niece held his face in either hand and kissed his cheek while Jeanie looked on laughing at her brother's discomfort.

_Stop it!_

He couldn't think of such things. Metcalf instead focused on his friend Dr. Brendan Gall. They'd been roommates all through college, undergraduate and graduate studies. Though Metcalf had always been a bit jealous of Brendan's easy brilliance, they'd been best friends. Metcalf had once again cause for envy when Brendan was tapped for an incredible new posting. It had been top secret, he couldn't tell Jonathan any of the details but he had been so incredibly excited.

Months had gone by without any word and then the news. Brendan had died. That seemed to be all anyone knew. Some kind of accident but no one could give him any details until Metcalf finally got his own tap on the shoulder. He was read into the Stargate program and finally learned the fate of his best friend. Brendan had been fed on by a Wraith and, heroically, taken his own life to prevent Mckay's staying by his side when he was needed elsewhere.

From the moment he put that redacted report down, Metcalf had made it his mission to be assigned to Atlantis and longed for the day he could take a more active role in wiping out the monsters who'd taken away his only friend. Yet, year after year passed and Metcalf was not chosen…not by the Atlantis expedition anyway.

His zeal had, however, caught the attention of another organization. The Trust had explained to him how ineffective Stargate Command really was. They'd opened his eyes to the gruesome reality of the Universe and made him realize that nothing mattered except saving Earth. No individual could stand in the way of keeping this world safe. Metcalf would sacrifice his life at a moment's notice to protect the people of his planet. Hadn't his best friend already made that sacrifice? He would sacrifice his life, his honor, his own personal self worth.

Metcalf hated the things he had done to protect Earth. He hated himself for doing them. Yet, that was the price that had to be paid. He respected Dr. Mckay's brilliance and his honor but the Trust had explained that while Mckay would give up his life to protect Earth, he and others were unwilling to sacrifice what Metcalf would. They were unwilling to live with the consequences of making the hard choices.

If they were unwilling or incapable, someone had to step into the breach. That someone was Metcalf. He had often wondered what he would do after Earth's fate had been secured. Originally, he had planned to kill himself but he decided that was cowardly and unjust. He knew he should be punished but it was not his place to meet out his own punishment.

Once the necessary evil had been done, his plan was to reveal the existence of the Stargate program to the world. He would confess what he had done and give himself and all his co-conspirators over to the people of Earth to do with as they saw fit. That would be justice.

Still he stood at this door afraid of what needed to be done, the hand holding the access card trembling. He closed his eyes, squared his shoulders and swiped the card. He had an unpleasant job to do. Best get it over with.

For a moment, all his dark thoughts receded into absolute astonishment.

The room was completely trashed. The cot had been dismantled; bits of dry wall littered the floor and in the middle of it stood Mckay…and only Mckay. The man's dark fatigues were covered in the dusty plaster from the dry wall. As Metcalf entered the room the scientist was in mid kick. He appeared to have sawed through the bottom of one of the wall studs, Metcalf had no idea how, and was attempting to kick the stud free.

Into the void left by his dismissed train of thought rushed anger. He felt his face flush hotly. Mckay looked crestfallen and well he should. Now there was nothing standing between this man and pain. Metcalf was going to have to inflict pain on a man he respected and admired; A man who had saved the people of Earth many times over. The man his best friend had died to help protect. His eyes stung with tears of unmitigated rage.

"What are you going?" He found himself screaming. He rushed forward, grabbed Mckay by his shirt front and shook him fiercely. "Do you know what you've done?" He demanded, still screaming.

Mckay did the most unexpected thing then. He laughed.

Metcalf felt something akin to a large boulder settle in his stomach.

"Guard!" The man stationed outside the door rushed in. "Give me your radio."

The man just stood there, his eyes raking wonderingly over the demolished room. Metcalf struck him.

"Your radio!" The guard unclasped it and handed it to him.

"Control. What is the status of the shield?" He shouted.

"Shield is online." The metallic voice responded.

He felt a moment's hope.

"Have there been any fluctuations?" He asked.

"A few." The voice droned. "There was a blink about twenty minutes ago but it was only for about 20, 30 seconds."

Mckay grinned triumphantly and Metcalf hit him. He was a bit surprised how severe Mckay's reaction was until he realized he'd struck him with the hand holding the radio. He bit his lip, snapping his mouth shut against the automatic "I'm sorry" almost escaped his lips.

"You may think you've won but you've forced their hand." He said instead, shaking his head. "My hand."

He walked over to the wall and kicked viciously. He realized he should have kicked Mckay. He should have used this anger. It would be harder to hurt the man when he wasn't so emotional. But the thought came with a recession of his anger. It was too late. Now he'd have to think about hurting Mckay, he'd have to force himself to do what was necessary.

"Take him." He said quietly to the men who'd accompanied him. The men who had been meant to take Mckay _and_ his friend. They grabbed the scientist, still grinning despite a bleeding cut on his chin where Metcalf had struck him.

Metcalf admired his bravery. He showed no signs of fear or dread.

"You think you can break me?" Mckay said, his voice clear and confident. "You think you can do worse than the Wraith? I'm gonna enjoy seeing you try."

Metcalf sighed wearily. "No, Dr. Mckay. You won't."

_And neither will I. _ He thought sadly as he closed the door behind the procession.


	12. Chapter 12

Mckay shrugged off the hands of the men leading him down a surprisingly brightly decorated hall.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own." He said, marveling again at the strength of his voice and the bravado he was displaying.

"Not for long." One of the men muttered.

Mckay's stomach sank for a moment but then he remembered the voice on the radio talking about the shield. 20 to 30 seconds. The idiots monitoring the system may not have been able to understand that such a 'blink' couldn't just happen but Mckay and Metcalf had both understood the only explanation. Jeanie was out.

Mckay felt the grin spread across his face again. He'd been tortured before, by men and Wraith. He knew what awaited him but the thought that Jeanie would not be touched was enough for now.

If Jeanie got out through the shield that could only mean that Sheppard was nearby. He was the only person on the island with the ATA gene who would have any interest in dropping the shield. Mckay concentrated on that thought as they reached a room with equipment that reminded him of his early experiments in branching parallel universes and Metcalf grimly approached.

Sheppard, Ronon & Teyla were nearby. They'd come bursting through that door any moment. He just needed to hang on for a few more minutes. It wouldn't do for them to find him panicked. It was true that Mckay didn't have a history of dealing with certain doom very well, but his doom was far from certain.

Metcalf was speaking. Explaining the equipment and where they were in their research. Mckay didn't mean to but found himself paying attention. They had apparently figured out how to open the wormhole but it wasn't stable. Currently, once it formed it would shift stream back and forth. This was where they'd come to a standstill. If they opened it now, both Earths would be destroyed. The vortex would destroy the 'other' Earth but then the intermittent and unstable nature of the wormhole would tear this Earth apart, pulling it into the other universe piecemeal.

"That's where we stalled in our research." Metcalf finished.

"Okay, let me get this straight." Mckay snapped. "You're trying to save Earth. So, you created a device that right now will not only disintegrate an entire planet of billions of innocent people, something you and your buddies are fine and dandy with I might add, but will rip to pieces the planet you claim you want to protect so much?"

Metcalf sighed.

"Good thing you guys weren't around when the Goa'uld were still in business. They'd have killed for a weapon like this." Mckay said sourly.

"You're attitude isn't very helpful, Dr. Mckay." Metcalf rebuked.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Mckay said. "Let me explain." He cleared his throat and spoke with exaggerated elucidation. "I don't want to help you, you maniacal lunatic."

"Dr. Mckay, you will help us. Eventually, you will. Why not skip that part? Why not spare yourself some pain?"

Mckay had actually considered it. His team was on the way. What was the harm in just going along until they found him? But there were too many risks involved. His team could get delayed. Any insights he might offer could be streamed to another site. They made this monstrous plan out of 3 year old research into power generation. He shuddered to think what they could manage with any new data.

Besides, it wouldn't be for long. Sheppard was in the compound. He could take it. It was just pain. Pain was fleeting. Life was pain. He could do this. Just a little while.

"No." He said and was impressed by the strength of his voice. He certainly didn't feel that brave.

Metclaf walked forward. "Dr. Mckay," He began quietly and then suddenly everything was red hot, his skin vibrating with the sensation of pain.

Mckay was on the floor. He had no idea how he'd gotten there but he knew that he wanted to stay there for a while, maybe a week. He looked up and saw that one of the men was carrying a staff he recognized. It had been developed by the Goa'uld and sent a message to the brain that inundated it with impulses it interpreted as pain.

"Get up." Metcalf commanded.

Mckay didn't think that was a good idea.

Pain hit again, different this time. Metcalf's kick was interpreted by his nervous system as a sharpness that seemed to turn into a hot wetness in his gut and spread out in throbbing waves.

"Get up." The man repeated slowly.

Mckay shook his head. If he was going to be defiant, he might as well spare himself the agony and indignity of crawling to his feet.

A terribly crushing pain shot from his fingers directly into his brain. He couldn't help but scream as Metcalf brought all his weight to bear and stepped on Mckay's left hand. He tried to clamp down on the scream but then the little bones in two of his fingers snapped, the jagged pieces ripping through the thin flesh and his scream only abated when his stomach rebelled and he gagged convulsively.

Metcalf finally took his weight off Mckay's abused phalanges and Mckay cradled them to his chest curling around them, putting all his strength and concentration into his efforts not to whimper pathetically or worse, cry.

Metcalf crouched down.

"Dr. Mckay, this is so unnecessary. Just agree to help us and I'll have someone see to your hand."

He held up a small ampoule. "This is morphine." He continued. "Just say you'll help us and I can give it to you."

Mckay found himself wondering what Sheppard would say. He'd come up with some witty comeback.  
>"Oh, no thank you." Mckay found himself rasping. "I don't do drugs. You know, crack is whack."<p>

Metcalf sighed in frustration and for some reason that made Mckay very, very happy. Served him right, the sadistic bastard.

"You know," Metcalf said in an easy conversant tone. "Pain is often not the most devastating part of torture." He grabbed Mckay's mangled left hand and hauled him screaming to his feet. He led Mckay over to a table and placed the hand down on it forcing Mckay to actually look at the damage, which was considerable. "Rather it's the more permanent things." Metcalf continued as though discussing the migratory habits of Canadian geese. "Disfigurement. Disability. Things like that."

Mckay's dread was increasing. Metcalf snapped signaled and someone placed an odd metallic tool in his hand.

"I tried to imagine what would inspire you, Dr. Mckay." Metcalf said. "What would you most fear losing? Your eyes?" He pointed the metallic thing at Mckay's wide and horrified eyes. "Maybe your ears? You know, it's incredibly easy to render someone deaf. The ears are really quite delicate and fragile. Simple changes in pressure can damage them irrevocably."

Mckay's mouth had gone dry. He found himself wanting to swallow but unable to do so.

"But that's not it, is it Dr. Mckay?" Metcalf sighed. "Your value is up there."

He tapped harshly on Mckay's head.

"You're a genius. What's valuable about you is what's in that skull of yours." Metcalf brought his face within inches of Mckay's. "Listen to me carefully, Dr. Mckay. If you will not help us. You are no longer valuable to us. I will use this device to turn your brain into something about as useful as cottage cheese."

Mckay finally managed to swallow a convulsive gulp.

"It will happen slowly but when it is over, you will need to be reminded of your own name on a regular basis. Your life will be reduced to a series of arts and crafts classes where the pinnacle of achievement is creating a really neato macaroni necklace. Do you understand me?"

Mckay stared, appalled.

"Nod if you understand me, doctor."

Mckay nodded.

"Now, are you going to help us?"

Mckay nodded.


	13. Chapter 13

Metcalf hesitated but the smile still spread across his face. He felt like sighing with relief but suppressed the urge.

"That's very good news, Dr. Mckay." He said but Mckay made no reply and refused to meet his gaze. His relief was replaced by remorse as his eyes fell on the bleeding mess of Mckay's hand.

"Let me get you that morphine and someone can see to your hand." He suggested.

Mckay finally raised his eyes and said in a clipped voice. "I'll skip the morphine, thanks all the same."

"Why?" Metcalf asked but Mckay didn't offer any explanation.

"If you're thinking you deserve to be punished for your decision, doctor. Please reconsider. What you're going to do will ensure the survival of our planet…"

Mckay cut him off. "At the expense of all the lives on another planet and only by abandoning an entire galaxy that needs our help; a galaxy I happen to have lived in for the last six or seven years and like more than a little. You're not going to convince me this is the right thing to do, okay? Just…stop."

"I'm sorry you see it that way." Metcalf said.

"Well, hmm, I guess that's the drawback of being sane."

"If this conversation is going to devolve into a series of insults, I think I'll leave you. I will send someone in to tend to your hand." He started to leave but thought better of it. Turning he laid the morphine ampoule on one of the work benches. "Just in case you change your mind." He said softly and made his exit.

Mckay stared at the ampoule and did something Metcalf would have found very curious if he'd seen it. He smiled.

* * *

><p>Metcalf walked down the hallway. Actually, a better description might have been pranced or even mutedly skipped. What a relief. Mckay was in the lab and had been convinced to finish the project after very little coercion. Just a few broken fingers and a threat; an empty threat at that.<p>

Metcalf had no idea what that device might have done to Mckay because he had no idea what it did at all. It was a piece of alien technology whose purpose, so far, remained unidentified and was probably irrevocably damaged. Metcalf had suspected that the threat of slowly stripping away Mckay's intelligence would be a good motivator, seeing as that was above all what the man valued in himself. If Mckay had still refused, Metcalf would have had to recues himself from the process. He'd probably have been scolded, punished or demoted within the organization for making a threat he couldn't make good on but it would have gotten him clear of the mess. He wouldn't have had to be involved in the horrible process.

He was surprised and pleased that his plan had worked so much better than he could ever dreamed. Instead of making a report to his superiors that he had made a fatal error and needed to be replaced he got to announce that in under half an hour he had convinced Mckay to do what they wanted. Everything was working out so well.

He turned a corner and his radio squelched in his ear followed by, "Sir, you wanted us to inform you if there were any more anomalies in the shield?"

"Is that a question?" He asked, annoyed.

"Um, no sir. I mean, there has been. I mean, the shield went down just now, sir."

"Damn it." He swore. "I want all security personnel armed and forming a solid perimeter around the compound. Do you understand? I want eye contact between each and every man. Someone brought that shield down and is trying to come for the prisoner. Keep that perimeter, do you understand? Do not allow the intruders to come through."

The report to his superiors would have to wait.

* * *

><p>Steve held up his hand and sensed the immediate halt of the two men behind him.<p>

He turned to see the tall man, Ronon, looking at what had caught his own attention. The men's eyes met and Ronon nodded and jerked his head backward in the direction they'd come. Steve nodded his agreement and made a back and forth motion over his neck to Sheppard before pointing in the direction they'd come. Sheppard looked puzzled but nodded his compliance.

Once they'd retreated a good 20 yards Sheppard asked, "What's the story?"

"Solid perimeter." Ronon grunted.

Steve nodded, "We can't get through that line without alerting someone. I suggest we leave someone here to notify us if they move out and the other two go for reinforcements."

Sheppard shook his head. "That'd take too long. Mckay could be anywhere by the time we gather a big enough group to take this by force. Stealth is our only option."

"You don't get it." Steve insisted. "There is no way to sneak past this line. They're all in sight of each other. There's no getting over or under them."

"Not that you know of." Sheppard said with a grin. "Leave it to me."

Steve looked to Ronon, who was striking him more and more as a kindred soul but the large man just shook his head and turned his gaze back in the direction of the compound grunting. "They'll notice if that shield goes down again."

"Maybe they'll think we're leaving." Sheppard said, pulling out a satellite phone that looked exactly like the one Steve had seen Mckay with.

"Where do you guys get gadgest like those?" He asked.

"It's classified." Sheppard said, but with a grin.

"Hey, Walter. This is Lt. Colonel Sheppard. Is she on the bridge? … Thanks."

Steve looked a question at Ronon who for some reason looked up into the sky as though that were an explanation.

"Hey, Sam. I've got some good news and some bad news." … "Okay, the bad news is I kind of told Mckay what the Trust really wanted…"

Sheppard jerked the sat phone back a bit from his ear and Steve heard Ronon grunt in a way that sounded suspiciously mirthful.

"I know, I know but … Yes, I get that but… No, no he didn't!" Sheppard finally crowed triumphantly.

"Mckay did _**not**_ give himself up in exchange for Jeanie. Why am I calling? Um, well, I kind of lost him-but" Sheppard hurried on. "He wasn't giving himself up! He was, uh, kind of, uh trying to rescue her himself."

Sheppard's head dropped. "Well, I don't know, Sam. It might have had something to do with the fact that everyone lied to him for the past three weeks. … I know. I know. But you haven't heard my good news yet." He added with a hopeful tilt to his voice. "The good news is I know where he is and all I need is for you to drop us down into a cloaked compound when I give the signal and I'll have him out and back home in Atlantis in no time."

Steve's head inadvertently jerked up. Had he just said Atlantis? What was this, SciFi or fantasy?

"Yes, we're still in Hawaii. I know, right? Not exactly where you expect an evil organization to set up shop. When you give the signal, I'll drop their shield. You should be able to pick up on my tracker and the life signs detector on the ship should see a perimeter. If you can put us down somewhere behind that perimeter out of sight we can continue the rescue mission. Good. Yeah. There's three of us but one of us doesn't have a tracker." Sheppard winced again. "Um, because it's a member of that task force … Well, technically I didn't read him in the bad guys did. Look, Sam listen to me," Suddenly Sheppard was looking straight at Steve. "He's a good man, Sam. We can trust him."

Steve nodded and Sheppard grinned.

"Okay, good. We're ready when you are. Just let me know when to drop the shield."

Sheppard seemed to be waiting so Steve ventured a question.

"What are you guys talking about, dropping us in? You have some kind of black helicopter or something?"

Sheppard for some reason grinned. "Not exactly." Then his attention switched to the phone. "Roger, dropping the shield."

Steve opened his mouth to ask for more clarification but before he could find his voice the world around him erupted into blinding light. His skin tingled in a way that reminded him of being caught in the shield but instead of feeling trapped he felt light, like he were bursting with energy in anticipation of a big race or swim, then suddenly the light faded and he had to catch himself because the ground had shifted under his feet. He'd been standing on an incline but now he was on decidedly level ground and the ground wasn't the only thing that had changed. Steve felt a wave of sudden dizziness as he realized everything that was, wasn't. In a few instants he had moved to a completely different place. He shook his head.

Yeah, this was definitely SciFi.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Sorry about the delay in posting. I was pretty darn sick. I hope you like this next chapter. I'm hoping to finish the story this weekend. Thanks so much for reading!**

* * *

><p>Kono glanced at the large clock … again. Where were they? She sighed loudly and resumed pacing.<p>

Her cousin, Chin, smiled but kept his eyes on the paperwork he was trying to get caught up. "Relax, Cuz. They'll get here when they get here."

"But where are they?" She asked.

"They probably just took Team Confidential to their hotel."

"No, they're probably running down a lead or something. Damn it. Danny gets to do all the fun stuff with Steve."

Chin smiled again, "I'm sure he'd love to trade places with you."

Kono frowned briefly. "I didn't mean that I don't… I mean, I like being partnered with you. I'm not saying I don't."

"Even though I've never even been tempted to blow up a convenience store cage with a live grenade?"

Kono smiled. "Yeah, I guess."

"Don't worry, Cuz. You're not hurting my feelings. You and Steve have a lot in common. You're both so intense."

Kono frowned. She'd never thought of herself as being anything like Steve. He was so confident, so sure of everything he did. She still hesitated when she had to turn the siren on. She hated double checking everything but she hated the idea of screwing something up even more.

"And that," Chin said, interrupting her train of thought, "is why it's a good thing he's teamed up with Danny and you're teamed up with me. I really don't wanna see what kind of damage you two would do together."

"Yeah?" Kono said, smirking. "At least we'd get something done, old man. If we teamed you and Danny up all you'd do is paperwork." She playfully smacked the folder he was holding.

"If you and Steve were teamed up, we'd need two people doing nothing but paperwork because there'd be a pile of it every time you walked out the door." He snapped back, swatting her with the abused folder.

She grinned, her eyes narrowing and she had started scanning the room for projectiles when the main doors burst open.

"Exactly who are you talking to?" Danny was asking loudly. "Because I'm guessing it isn't someone local which is what we need. Local PD. As in, HPD! As in, what I've been saying since we left… wherever the hell we were. Hello? Are you listening to me?"

The woman, Teyla Emmagen was talking on a phone and, apparently, ignoring Danny. What really caught Kono's attention was who was with them. She glanced at the picture on the wall mounted screen to be make sure but, yep, it was Jeanie Miller.

"Look, what was your name again?" Jeanie was saying to Danny.

"DETECTIVE Danny Williams."

"Okay, detective. I know this is hard for you to understand since you've done a lot of talking and not much listening on the way over here but Teyla has access to resources you cannot imagine. So, please, SHUT UP…" The woman took a deep calming breath and Kono noted that Danny's eyebrows were raised. "Just shut up for a minute and let her do her job."

"Okay." Danny said quietly, then after a moment's hesitation. "You know, you sound a lot like your brother sometimes."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Jeanie said shortly.

"It wasn't meant as one." Danny muttered.

"Excuse me?" Kono finally decided to jump in. "What the hell is going on?"

Danny smiled but it was the big showy smile he used when he was particularly annoyed at something. "We found her. But, unfortunately, we lost her brother. Steve and the rest of the Scooby Gang went to rescue him from a large compound guarded by many heavily armed men all by themselves and Princess Shera here won't let me call HPD for back up."

Kono looked back to Teyla who was still speaking quietly on the phone and ignoring everyone in the room.

Kono shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. "Wait, what hap- I mean, how did we find Mrs. Miller?"

"Mer found me. The other guy, Steve, he followed Mer and they both got caught but Steve figured a way out but Mer couldn't make it through and he..Mer said..we left him. He said he'd catch up and someone needed to get out to get help in case..and then we ran into John and Ronon and Teyla and … this guy. Steve, John and Ronon went back to get Mer and we came here. Teyla's talking to … someone in charge about making sure there isn't any trouble with Steve and him" She jerked her head in Danny's direction "… knowing what they know and to see if there's anything they can do to help." Jeanie said, tripping over her words.

It suddenly occurred to Kono that this woman had been held against her will for weeks, had just made a harrowing escape and had just lost her brother.

"Mrs. Miller?" She said, approaching her. "Why don't you sit down? I'm sure you want to call your family and let them know you're alright."

The woman's head snapped up. "Oh." She said, stunned. "Yes, please. Oh, thank you!"

Kono glared at Danny who suddenly looked shame faced. "Oh, yeah. Um, sorry. Right. Right. Do you like coffee?"

"Yes, I agree. Thank you so much, General, for your understanding and please tell Colonel Carter I look forward to visiting with her." Teyla's conversation was audible in the sudden silence. "Thank you again, sir. Have a pleasant day."

She disconnected the call. "I am very happy to inform you that I have been authorized to tell you whatever information I deem necessary in order to support Colonel Sheppard's attempt to secure the release of Rodney."

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Danny asked.

"I am not from your world." Teyla said abruptly. "I am not, in fact, from your galaxy. Dr. Mckay and Colonel Sheppard are part of a group of Earthlings that have taken up residence in Atlantis, a city built by an Ancient alien race in my galaxy, Pegasus. For this reason, people of Earth are known as Lantians throughout Pegasus. The Lantians are there defending my people, and the people of many other worlds from a race called The Wraith. The Wraith are a highly aggressive predatory alien race and the humans of Pegasus have been their prey for millennia. You Lantians have generously decided to help us defend ourselves from the Wraith but not all of you who are aware of their existence think this wise. The Trust, as it is called, operates outside the official organizations of Earth and often does unpleasant things in their efforts to protect Earth. In this case, their plans involved kidnapping Dr. Mckay and forcing him to assist them though we are unsure why. Your friend, Ronon and John Sheppard are involved in a mission to rescue Dr. Mckay and take into custody the members of the Trust operating on this island. Have I explained everything clearly? Do you have any questions?"

Kono wondered if something had gone wrong in her brain. She'd heard all the words. They were definitely English. They just didn't make any sense. She was still trying to work through the speech in her mind when a blinding flash of light filled the room.

Kono closed her eyes and raised her hands against the glare. When she brought them down five people in air force uniforms were standing in the middle of the main room.

One of them, a blond woman, smiled and greeted Teyla while Kono's mind attempted to unspool.

"Hello, Colonel Carter. It is very good to see you again." Teyla said and inclined her head.

"Hi, Sam." Jeanie said from her seat and Kono saw she now had Danny's cell phone.

"Hello, Teyla." Carter strode across the room and grasped Jeanie's shoulder. "Jeanie!" She knelt and gave the woman a hug. "I was so worried. I'm so glad you're okay. You are okay, right?"

Jeanie nodded briskly but her brow was wrinkled.

"Don't worry, we'll get him."

Jeanie nodded again, her lips clamped together.

"Excuse me." Chin's voice was that incredible combination of soft and strong Kono admired so much. It was that deep tone that seemed so unassuming yet impossible to ignore. Kono's flash of admiration was followed by an equally brief flash of irritation. Her voice would never command such basic and simple respect.

"I've just been told something, well something that's a little hard to swallow. No offense intended." He nodded at Teyla who smiled and nodded back.

"No offense is taken, Chin Ho Kelly. I understand this must be very difficult for you to understand."

Chin frowned a bit. "It is. But my chief concern is for Steve..and, of course, for your friends. You said McKay had been captured and Steve was part of a rescue mission. Where is this?"

"Yeah," Kono spoke up. "And more importantly, what can we do to help?"

Carter looked at Kono for the first time and smiled. Kono recognized that smile. It told her that Carter knew she was a rookie. Somehow they always knew. Chin had warned her when she was in the Academy. "When you graduate, remember, you're still going to be a rookie for a while. Everyone else will remember, and they can always tell. There's just something about rookies, it's like new car smell. Nobody knows what it is exactly but everybody recognizes it."

"Do you have their coordinates?" Teyla asked. "Can we beam a team to assist them?"

Carter sighed. "We know roughly where they are but its dense vegetation. The nearest space open enough to set down a team is miles away from the field and the field is a good two miles from the compound. Without someone with the ATA gene shutting off the shield, we can't beam anyone down into the compound. We could bring down the shield pretty easily with the firepower on my ship but I'd never get that authorized. Too much exposure. I wouldn't do it even if I could. We could hurt or kill our people when the shield comes down. That compound isn't exactly a hive ship. It's a pretty small target."

Kono frowned. "If Steve and those other guys are in the compound, doesn't that mean the shield is down?"

Carter seemed a bit surprised that Kono was participating but nodded, "No, our scanners once again show nothing in the area."

"Why would your people bring the shield back up? Wasn't all hope of secrecy pretty much lost?"

Carter smiled. "I imagine it was but the people in the compound have control of the shield."

Kono could feel herself blushing. Of course the men in control of the compound would bring the shield back online.

Carter was smiling sympathetically. "It takes a minute to get used to all this sci fi stuff." She said. "That is, though, why we need someone on the ground. They need to not only bring the shield down but keep it down long enough for our support teams to beam in."

"So, the problem is getting someone with this ATA thing to the shield fast, right?" Kono asked.

Carter nodded, "Yes. The quicker the better. This is probably going to be over one way or another very quickly and the odds of it ending in a way we'd like go up much higher if we can get our people some support quickly."

Chin smiled at Kono. She was following one of his rules. _If something is overwhelming you, break it down. Most scenarios boil down to a pretty simple problem when you break them down._

"Do you have one of these ATA people here?" Kono asked.

A short woman in a uniform that seemed slightly different from those around her raised her hand.

"Datta be me, Cher." She said with a smile. "Lt. _Hébert_."

Kono nodded at her. "Do you need to be on the ground to…uh…to do whatever it is you're going to do?"

The woman smiled. "Nah, donneeda be. Whachu tinkin der, Cher?"

Kono smiled back. "I'm thinking I'm glad Steve's been giving me flying lessons."


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, I'm going to finish this.**

* * *

><p>Danny glanced at Carter, the blond woman who had dropped out the sky (literally) and taken charge. She seemed to be assigning people into various task oriented groups. The problem was, Danny didn't seem to be in any of those groups.<p>

"Col. Carter." He said, approaching her as soon as the airman she'd been talking to walked away.

"Yes, Det. Williams, isn't it?" She asked politely.

"Yes, ma'am," Danny said. "Look, I can't help but notice that I can't help. You haven't given me anything to do."

The woman pursed her lips. "Well, I'm not sure how to use you. You don't have any military background.."

"Neither do Chin and Kono." Danny interrupted.

"Yes, but Officer Kono can fly a helicopter and Mr. Kelly has an intimate understanding and knowledge of the field of battle."

"Look, I'm not a civilian. I'm a cop. I may not have military training but I am well trained."

Carter smiled in a way that made Danny want to punch something and said. "I don't doubt that you're a very good cop and a very good detective, but if I put you on one of my teams you wouldn't know the signals, the codes, you would be a liability."

"Look, ma'am. I'm trying to be polite here but this is how it is. My _partner_ is in that place. If you think there is any chance in HELL I am sitting back and twiddling my thumbs while you and your little band of commandos go in after him, you're as delusional as your story sounds, okay?"

Danny squared his shoulders, ready for whatever the colonel shot back.

To his surprise she smiled.

"Sorry, Det. Williams." She said. "A big part of why I didn't include you is I don't know you. I didn't have a clear idea in my head on how you would react. Now I do. You're loyal to your team, something I have quite a bit of experience with."

"Thanks." Danny said gruffly.

"If you don't mind, I'd like it if you'd join the alpha team in the breach of the southern face of the compound. Mr. Kelley has also been assigned to the alpha team and I'm sure will be more than happy to fill you in on the details."

"Thank you, ma'am." Danny said again.

"Good Luck, Detective." Col. Carter answered and walked away.

Danny walked over to Chin and asked, "So, how are we saving Steve's bacon today?"

* * *

><p>Kono was flying low to the ground which took all her attention. One abnormally tall tree popping up during a lapse in concentration and they were dead. However, flying this low would make it impossible for the helicopter to be picked up on the enemy's radar.<p>

"Why can't Shephard lower the shield again?" Kono asked, suddenly very annoyed with the lengths they were forced to take.

"Radio silence." Hebert answered. "Dey actively stormin' de compound. Dey radio s'off."

"Of course they are." Kono growled.

"I see it. Can you shut down the shield from here?" She asked holding the chopper stationary.

"Yeah, definitely." Hebert answered with a decisive nod.

Kono radioed Carter.

"Col. Carter, I have the compound in sight. Hebert's ready to shut down the shield. Are you ready on your end?"

"Ready when you are, Officer Kono." Carter answered.

Kono turned to watch as Hebert squinted in concentration and, still squinting held up a thumb.

"Shield is down." Kono radioed. "I repeat, the compound shield is down."

She turned back to Hebert, who had started sweating heavily. Seconds ago she had been squinting slightly, now she was grimacing.

"Are you okay?" Kono asked.

Hebert didn't answer but held up a shaking thumb.

The seconds ticked by agonizingly slowly as Hebert grew more and more tense and the expression on her face grew more and more pained.

"Officer Kono." Cater called over the radio. "The teams are in place. You may drop the shield. I repeat, you may drop the shield."

Kono started as Hebert let out a groan of relief and relaxed.

"You okay?" She asked again.

"Ya, I fine, Cher." Hebert said. "Or I gonna be I get me five, ten tylonol in me."

Kono smiled and looked back to the compound.

Now it was up to the rest of the team.

* * *

><p>Danny shook himself, trying to shake off the unexpected dizziness being beamed onto the complex had caused. Someone tapped his shoulder. He turned to see one of the airmen who gave him a questioning look and held up a thumb.<p>

Danny nodded and held up a thumb. Yeah, he was okay.

The group inched forward and when they reached the edge of the wood that was the last bit of cover before the man made perimeter the same airman tapped his shoulder again. The kid held up the strange weapon that was a match to the one they'd given Danny. He pointed at the man to the right and then pointed to himself. He pointed to the man on the left and then pointed to Danny. Then, again, a questioning look and a thumbs up.

Danny nodded and held up his thumb again. He pointed to himself, to the weird gun he was holding and then to the man on the left, just to try to clarify things a bit further.

The kid in the uniform nodded and then signaled to someone down the line. Danny looked at the man off to his left who also held up a thumb. The plan was simple, a coordinated attack against every man in the human perimeter using these funny 'stun' weapons.

Danny and Chin hadn't been given an opportunity to practice but had been told that it was the same principle as a firearm but with a bigger impact area and greater accuracy.

"If you're a decent shot with a pistol, you're an ace with a stunner." The honest to goodness pimple faced airman had said as he passed the two the weapons.

Danny waited for the signal, a double squelch on the radio.

When it finally came, Danny shot out of cover firing. He was surprised how quickly and easily the man went down.

He moved to his right as he'd been instructed to meet up with the rest of the alpha team. Their entry point was supposed to be a kitchen door. This was the entrance Steve and that John guy and the giant had taken what? An hour ago?

What had super SEAL Steve been doing for an hour?

Danny was definitely in his comfort zone as he joined alpha team in clearing the compound. This was something he'd done hundreds of times and was even easier than usual. Thanks to the stun weapons he was able to go in guns blazing and immobilize enemies quickly and in most cases silently.

They reached a wide hallway that looked like a thoroughfare and curved to the left with all doors relegated to the left side of the hallway. If Danny had to guess there was a central room at the core of the building and that room was massive.

At last they reached doors on the left side of the hall. The team gathered on either side of the double doors and then, on a signal, breached them and came in guns trained.

Danny was one of the last to enter and took in the scene before him. Steve, John and Ronon stood on the side of the room nearest the doors and alpha team. Their guns were trained on a man in business suite who was aiming a gun at Mckay's head with one hand and with the other, apparently threatening to press a button on a keyboard.

"Look!" John said in a very calm voice. "It's like I said. Our reinforcements are here. It's over Metcalf. Let Mckay go. Let's just walk away from this, okay?"

"It'll work. It HAS to work!" Metcalf screamed. "I didn't do this… I didn't do all this for nothing!"

"You press that button and we're all dead." Mckay bit out; still managing to sound irritated though even from here Danny could see the scientist was in bad shape. He was kneeling on the ground and posturing in a way Danny recognized. Mckay definitely had some badly bruised ribs at the least and his hand was bloody and roughly bandaged.

"I don't believe you." Metcalf insisted. "You wouldn't sacrifice our world. Not for nothing."

"I would.." Mckay began but Metcalf screamed. "Shut up! Everyone just shut up for a minute."

Metcalf did not seem to be in a very stable state of mind. Perfect.

Danny looked around the room and realized that, thanks to his height, Metcalf couldn't see him. He also noted there was long row of machinery that offered almost complete cover between himself and Metcalf. If he stayed low and quiet, he'd be able to flank the guy and come at him from behind.

Danny hunched over and started moving forward slowly and carefully.

"No," Metcalf sounded almost as though he were talking to himself. "No, it'll work. You were really working on the problem. You had to."

"I did what I had to do to keep you from turning my head into cottage cheese." Mckay snarled. "But if you think I'd ever have finished this thing for you… It won't work. I'd rather die. I'd let you lobotomize me before I helped you destroy an entire planet, Metcalf. Please, believe me!"

Danny had made it to the only break in his cover. It was small and if he rolled across he could stay low while still moving fast but if Metcalf just happened to be looking in his direction there was no way he wouldn't spot Danny, no matter how fast he managed to get from point A to point B.

Danny risked peeking around and caught Steve's eye. Steve glanced over Danny so quickly and with such a lack of reaction that even Danny thought he hadn't noticed him but then Steve lowered his gun and took a step forward which got Metcalf's undivided attention.

Danny rolled across the gap and was safe on the other side as Steve said, "Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Look, we all want the same thing here. Nobody wants to destroy the world, right? Think about it, Metcalf. Do you really wanna play those odds? You wanna play those kind of odds with the fate of the world?"

Danny was now behind Metcalf and probably in full view of Steve, John, Ronan and most of alpha team. From this distance he could see what Metcalf's hand was hovering over on the keyboard, the 'enter' key. Danny shook his head. The fate of the world centered over whether a bureaucrat pressed enter.

"Have you ever seen someone who has been fed on by a Wraith, McGarret?" Metcalf was asking.

Any head on attack would give Metcalf plenty of time to press enter but Danny was confident he could tackle the man without his getting anywhere near it. What really worried Danny was the gun. Metcalf was tense, his finger not on the side of the .9mm but on the trigger itself. If Danny tackled him from behind it would not only be easy for the man to get a shot off directly into Mckay's head, he'd probably do it without even trying.

Danny ducked back behind his cover.

"No, I haven't." Steve was saying. "I can't imagine what it's like feeling like you're responsible for the whole world but I know what it's like trying to keep people safe and there's nothing but walls standing in your way."

_C'mon Danny. Think! What would Steve do?_

Danny peaked around the computer bank and hit on a plan. It was stupid. Of course, it was stupid. It was what Steve would do.

He straightened up and took a step forward and out into the open. He tensed himself for a leap forward and then said loudly and cheerfully, "How you doing?"

As he'd expected Metcalf reacted instinctively. His right hand moved away from the button as he turned to see who was behind him and the gun swiveled away from Mckay's head to point at Danny. Danny by that time was already tackling Metcalf to the ground. They landed with a loud bang and within seconds arms were pulling Danny off and securing Metcalf.

Danny was still trying to catch his breath when Steve grabbed his arm and flipped him over. He looked so worried Danny wanted to laugh.

"Are you crazy?" Steve asked.

"Maybe." Danny grunted.

"You okay?"

"Sure." Danny gasped. "Got the wind knocked outta me. … Can't… catch my breath."

"Lemme see your vest." Steve ordered. "I think you got hit by that bullet."

_Bullet?_

Danny didn't remember hearing a shot.

Steve grabbed the vest and started pulling at the Velcroed sides but then paused.

"Shit." He muttered, then yelled. "MEDIC! I need a medic! Williams is hit!"

Hit? Danny was hit? No, he wasn't. Nothing hurt. He'd been shot before and it hurt. It definitely hurt…a lot. Danny didn't feel shot he just couldn't breath. He tried to tell Steve that but he couldn't manage to get the words out.

"Stop trying to talk, Danny." Steve was ordering. Steve was always telling him what to do. "Stay with me, Danny. Okay? HEY!"

Danny started. He'd just closed his eyes for a second. It wasn't like he was going to sleep. He was just tired and wanted to close his eyes for a second.

"Stay awake, Danny. You hear me? You stay awake? You go to sleep and I will kick your ass, you understand me?"

Danny was getting worried. Steve sounded scared.

"Finally." Steve growled. "Looks like the bullet entered behind the left clavicle and came out his right chest and embedded itself in the inside of the vest. He's having difficulty breathing."

"We have that shield down?" A strange voice yelled from somewhere outside Danny's field of vision.

"Yeah, we got it disabled at the source." Another voice yelled.

"Tell Col. Carter I need an immediate evac to sickbay. This guy is in bad shape."

Bad shape? How could he be in such bad shape when he didn't even feel anything? Something was wrong with his eyes though. Dark blotches were all over the place, surrounding sharp, bright points of light. Suddenly the light was everywhere and Danny closed his eyes against the glare and forgot to open them again.

* * *

><p><strong>And I'm almost done with this. I'll finish it tonight or tomorrow at the latest. <strong>


	16. The End

**Last Chapter.**

* * *

><p>Mckay had been eying the USB port. For all the complexity of the system, the keyboard Metcalf had his hand hovering over was still just a keyboard. It still plugged into the system via a USB port and if Mckay could somehow pull the plug Metcalf could type out War and Peace if he wanted and it wouldn't change a damn thing.<p>

But how to do it? If Mckay had been kneeling on the ground for almost an hour and by now knew that something was terribly wrong with his chest. When he put pressure on the left side his hand sunk disconcertingly inward as broken ribs painfully gave way. The longer he kneeled on the floor the worse the pain became.

John, Ronan and that SEAL, what was his name? Didn't matter, they'd managed to take out the three guards in the room and cut off communication. A patrol had broken in about 15 minutes ago and been quickly incapacitated. Metcalf was stuck with a gun to Mckay's head and his finger over a button and Mckay was stuck kneeling on the floor waiting for the hammer to drop.

It was a long time to stay so tense and Mckay could see Metcalf losing it. When this got started it was essentially a race, whose backup would get there first. Mckay hadn't believed Metcalf would actually push the button but the longer the situation dragged on the more crazed Metcalf's demeanor became and the more worried Mckay became.

Suddenly men burst in; the reinforcements John had claimed were on their way. The compound was secure. All that was left was Metcalf and he knew it.

Now was the moment of truth. Metcalf had to decide if he'd really risk destroying both Earths to try to save one.

The SEAL, Steve! That was his name! Steve stepped forward speaking to Metcalf and Mckay saw it: A flash of movement between two of the work stations. Someone was coming up around behind Metcalf. If they could get his hand away from the button for just a second Mckay could lunge for the USB cord.

Then it happened.

"How you doing?" A voice called, almost jovially.

Metcalf spun. Mckay lunged. He jerked the cord out just as something hard and heavy collided with him. A gun fired and then shadowy figures were rushing around, everyone yelling at once.

But the world didn't end. Mckay brought the cord up and saw the plug dangling uselessly at the end of it wire and smiled.

"Mckay!" John was yelling. "You okay? Did you get hit?"

"I don't think so." Mckay grunted, his chest still lit up like a Christmas Tree.

Ronan stood over him frowning.

"You look terrible." He pronounced.

"Thanks." Mckay griped. "You, too."

"MEDIC!" A voice called out and Mckay squirmed, trying to sit up and turn around at the same time but the blood rushed loudly in his ears and he saw spots so he stilled, not wanting to pass out.

Even behind his eyes he recognized the blinding light of the transporter.

"What's going on?" He asked with his eyes still shut against the dizziness, trying his best not to cough.

"Williams took a bullet when he tackled Metcalf." John said grimly. "They beamed him straight to sickbay. Speaking of, Ronan's right you look terrible."

Ronan grunted.

"Hey," John yelled. "Get on the horn and request a medical evac for Mckay. He's not looking so good."

"Yes, sir." A disembodied voice answered.

Mckay needed to sit up. It was getting harder and harder to breath, almost like something were filling up his lungs.

"I need to get up." He breathed. He suddenly had the urge to pace. He needed to move. He felt like he was drowning.

He grabbed at John's arm for leverage but John took his right hand, the only good one he had left and held him down. Why was he doing that? Couldn't he see what he was doing?

"Mckay, stay down." John insisted but Mckay shook his head. There was a tickle in his throat but something was telling him not to cough. He was suddenly afraid if he started coughing he'd never stop.

He kept trying to get up and then suddenly he felt the strange tingling numbness of the transporter and he was in sick bay.

He gasped at the unexpected surcease of pain and then coughed. When he coughed the thing that had been in his chest seemed to erupt. Suddenly he was choking on it. He had to get up but he couldn't. Hands seemed to pick him up but then force him down. He brought up his good hand to try to grab something, to try to sit up again but they wouldn't let him.

He felt a severe stabbing pain in his right side and then he must have passed out.

* * *

><p>He opened his eyes and the sound was dimmed. The room seemed dark except for the mercilessly bright lights over the examination tables. Mckay suddenly noticed he didn't feel anything. There was no more pain. He looked down at his chest and saw fresh, clean bandages.<p>

No one seemed to be paying attention to him anymore. Everyone was surrounding and focused on the other table. Mckay managed to prop himself on his elbow and get a better view of what was going on.

The 5 0 detective was on the other table and he looked dreadful. A tube had been placed in his mouth, his skin looked deathly pale, a sick shade of grayish purple. The worst part though was his chest. Mckay had seen then 'crack' a chest on shows like Casualty and E.R. but seeing it in real life, seeing someone you knew and had seen walking around and talking with their chest opened up like a kitchen cabinet, that was something else entirely.

Then Mckay recognized a sound. The awful drone of a heart monitor that wasn't monitoring anything. The people around the table were shouting things like "Push in another liter!" "There's another hole! Turn the heart! It's got to be the left ventricle!"

Mckay managed to get up from the table he'd been lying on. He walked toward the now faintly glowing light and willed the drone to stop that mournful sound and start cheerfully beeping again.

It was perhaps another five minutes before he heard a voice muffled by a paper mask say, "That's it. I can't think of anything else to try. Anyone?"

There was no sound but the drone of the monitor.

"Okay, I'm calling it." The voice sighed. "Time of death, 10:42."

"No." Mckay found himself saying. It couldn't be. It couldn't. This was his fault. It was because of him that Jeannie had been taken. It was because of him that 5 0 had been brought into this mess. He had been so rude to Det. Williams. Danny, his name was Danny. He had a little girl and now he was dead because of Mckay; because of what someone had wanted from Mckay.

"No." He said again, shaking his head. "No! … No! NO!...

* * *

><p>"Mckay!" John was suddenly inches from Mckay's face and shaking him. "It's okay, buddy. You're just having a bad dream."<p>

Mckay gasped, the pain from his injuries was back, though significantly dulled. A dream? What was a dream? How much was a dream?

"Williams?" Mckay asked.

"Well, he's not going surfing anytime soon but he'll live."

"I hate surfing." A gravelly voice grunted from somewhere to Mckay's right.

Mckay swung over to follow the direction of the voice and almost fell off of the narrow sick bay bed.

"Hey, careful you idiot." John shouted, his tone annoyed. "You wanna open up your stitches?"

Mckay moved more slowly but still turned to see Williams.

Williams' bed was elevated into a reclined sitting position and he was eating blue jello.

"You're okay." Mckay blurted.

"You've got a pretty messed up idea of okay, buddy." Williams said but with a smile. "I got a hole in my chest."

"But …but" Mckay was so confused. "I saw you. You were over there and they cracked your chest and you flatlined."

John frowned. "He never flatlined, Mckay. Even if he had, you wouldn't have seen it. You passed out when they put in the chest tube and you've been out ever since. You must have been dreaming."

"So," Mckay directed his comment at the slightly smirking detective. "you're okay?"

"I'll live." Williams said. "Nice to know you care so much."

"Well, it's my fault your team got dragged into this." Mckay said without thinking.

Williams snorted and then spent a good two or three minutes wincing and cursing under his breath.

Finally, he looked up and said, "Look, Mckay. I'm a cop. I get shot at all the time. At least this time I got shot saving the world, right?"

"I don't really see how that makes it hurt any less." Mckay argued.

"Man, don't make me laugh." Williams pleaded as the SEAL…Steve! Why was that name so hard to remember? Anyway, as Steve walked into the room carrying two cups of coffee.

"Someone managed to get you to stop complaining?" He asked with mock incredulity. "Who is this miracle worker and can I recruit them to our team?"

"He's already got a job." Williams said. "Not that that's ever stopped you."

"Hey," John said and reached out a hand to Steve. "Seriously, thank you Commander McGarrett. We owe you, I mean, the whole world owes you and your team. We couldn't have done this without you. If there's anything we can do to repay you, just let me know."

"We're all read in on the E.T. stuff, right?" Steve asked after a momentary pause.

"Well, not everything." John said cautiously. "But you know more than most senators, why?"

The SEAL grinned, "I was just wondering. What's the odds I could take out one of those F-302s? I've always wanted to fly a spaceship."

John grinned.

"Aw, look." Williams sang. "You found a kindred spirit. You two should totally have a sleep over. You could braid each other's hair and make friendship bracelets."

Mckay looked at John and Steve's matching annoyed expressions, exchanged a knowing look with Williams who joined him in bursting into pained laughter.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end. I'm done. <strong>


End file.
